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ESSAYS ON GL1VE 
AND HASTINGS 




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MACAULAY'S 

ESSAYS ON CLIVE AND 

HASTINGS 




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Edited 

With Introduction and Notes 

by 

CHARLES ROBERT GASTON, Ph.D. 

EDITOR OF IRVING'S "LIFE OF GOLDSMITH" 




GINN AND COMPANY 

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PROFESSOR EMERITUS OF ENGLISH IN CORNELL UNIVERSITY 

IN GRATEFUL RECOGNITION OF THE INTEREST 

THAT HE HAS ALWAYS SHOWN IN THE 

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PREFATORY NOTE 



In the editing of these essays for school use, there is a tempta- 
tion to give merely encyclopedic information whenever Macaulay 
makes a historical or a literary allusion. In this edition an 
attempt is made to avoid this perfunctory method of annotation. 
The editor aims to present the necessary information, but to 
present it in such a way that it will in every case make clear 
the precise allusion that seems puzzling in the writing of the 
essayist. Throughout the Introduction and the Notes the pur- 
pose has been constantly to emphasize the literary reading of 
two notable essays dealing with epochs in India. It is hoped 
that no student will feel dismayed by the information contained 
in the essays and in the annotation, but that on the contrary all 
readers may relish as does the editor the vigor and brilliance of 
the distinguished essayist's style. The editor particularly wishes 
to thank the publishers for their painstaking cooperation in the 
production of the maps which have been inserted in this edi- 
tion. Maps are an invaluable aid to any kind of reading of a 
historical narrative. 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Prefatory Note v 

Introduction ix 

Life of Macaulay (1800-1859) .....*.... ix 

Object of the Reading xvi 

Place of the Essays in the History of English Lit- 
erature .... xvn 

Sketch of the Life of Lord Clive xviii 

Sketch of the Life of Warren Hastings . . . . xx 

Essay on Clive 1 

Essay on Hastings ..." 93 

Notes on Clive 221 

Notes on Hastings 241 

Subjects for Oral and Written Compositions . . . 265 



INTRODUCTION 

LIFE OF MACAULAY (1800-1859) 

Probably no writer in any language has given so much 
historical and literary information and misinformation in so 
entertaining a style to so many persons as Thomas Babington 
Macaulay. He had a positive passion for facts. Nevertheless, 
in his thirty-four years as a writer he exhibited such an interest- 
ing and brilliant antithetical style that he sometimes gave mis- 
information, unconsciously, in his desire to say something 
strongly and entertainingly. Very likely he gathered more in- 
formation before he was twenty-five years old than he did in 
the last thirty-four years. At any rate, it proves convenient in 
studying the events of his busy, happy, and mostly prosperous 
life to consider them in two periods : the period of preparation, 
from 1800 to 1825; and the period of productiveness, from 
1825 to 1859. During the second half of the second period he 
wrote his essays on Clive and Hastings — reviews of the- lives 
of men prominent in Indian affairs. 

Macaulay's youth was singularly fortunate. His father, 
Zachary Macaulay, was of good Scotch descent. He is buried 
in Westminster, along with ' several other noted English advo- 
cates of the abolition of slavery. Except for Macaulay there is 
scarcely an Englishman of fame buried in Westminster whose 
father is also buried there. The place of Thomas B. Macaulay's 
birth was Rothley Temple, Leicestershire, England. He was 
the eldest of eight children. In 1803 the family moved to 
Clapham, near London, where they continued to reside for 
eighteen years. Tom's mother thought that he was a wonderful 



X INTRODUCTION 

child, but, in spite of his superior powers of language, she would 
not permit people to tell him that he was unusually bright for 
one so young. When only three he enjoyed reading serious 
books or sitting by the fire conversing with his elders. When 
only four he had a copious vocabulary. A cup of coffee was 
spilled on him one day. Solicitously the hostess inquired 
whether it hurt. He replied, "Thank you, madam, the agony is 
abated." Tom would often listen, with the consent of his father, 
to the talk that went on in the Macaulay home when prominent 
members of Parliament and abolitionists met to discuss ways of 
advancing the cause of abolition of slavery in the West Indies. 
As a mere boy Tom wrote an article which he desired should 
be translated into an Indian dialect so as to persuade the people 
of Travancore to embrace the Christian religion. By the time he 
was twelve he had memorized a large part of Scott's " Lay of 
the Last Minstrel" and "Marmion," Milton's "Paradise Lost," 
and Bunyan's " Pilgrim's Progress," besides a good deal of the 
Bible, for he had a wonderful knack of taking in pages at a 
glance and remembering the contents and the very language 
for all time. A letter written by him at the age of thirteen 
shows better than anything else the kind of boy he was, and 
by implication the kind of parents he had : 

Shelf ord, August 14, 181 3 
My dear Mamma: 

I must confess that I have been a little disappointed at not re- 
ceiving a letter from home to-day. I hope, however, for one to-mor- 
row. My spirits are far more depressed by leaving home than they 
were last half year. Everything brings home to my recollection. 
Everything I read, or see, or hear brings it to my mind. You told 
me I should be happy when I once came here, but not an hour 
passes in which I do not shed tears at thinking of home. Every 
hope, however unlikely to be realized, affords me some small conso- 
lation. The morning on which I went you told me that possibly I 
might come home before the holidays. If you can confirm that hope, 
believe me when I assure you there is nothing which I would not 



INTRODUCTION XI 

give for one instant's sight of home. Tell me in your next, expressly, 
if you can, whether or no there is any likelihood of my coming home 
before the holidays. If I could gain papa's* leave, I should select my 
birthday, October 25, as the time which I should wish to spend at 
that home which absence renders still dearer to me. I think I see 
you sitting by papa just after his dinner, reading my letter, and turn- 
ing to him with an inquisitive glance at the end of the paragraph. 
I think, too, that I see his expressive shake of the head at it. Oh 
may I be mistaken ! You cannot conceive what an alteration a favor- 
able answer would produce on me. If your approbation of my re- 
quest depends upon my advancing in study, I will work like a cart 
horse. If you should refuse it, you will deprive me of the most pleas- 
ing illusion which I ever experienced in my life. Pray do not fail to 
write speedily. 

Your dutiful and affectionate son, 

T. B. Macaulay 

After attendance at private school he entered Trinity College, 
Cambridge University, in 18 18. Here he was a brilliant scholar 
and debater, averse only to the study of mathematics. He won 
prizes for Latin declamation and for two English poems, 
"Pompeii," 1819, and " Evening," 1821. The family moved 
to London in 182 1. That year Macaulay won a scholarship 
at the university. In 1822 he received the bachelor's degree. 
In 1823 it became his good fortune to have to do something 
for his family ; he took private pupils to make up as far as he 
could for his father's business reverses. He was made Fellow 
of Trinity in 1824. While he was at college he wrote "The 
Battle of Ivry " and other ballads for Knight's Quarterly Maga- 
zine, which was circulated mostly at Cambridge and Eton. At 
the age of twenty-five he took the master's degree. Now, hav- 
ing been remarkably industrious during his youth, he had richer 
stores of information than most persons have at the end of 
their lives. 

The years when Macaulay made for himself a career in litera- 
ture' and in politics were, in spite of one or two trying situations, 



xii INTRODUCTION 

as prosperous and active as could well be imagined. No attempt, 
however, will be made to do more than relate, in strict chrono- 
logical order, the principal definite events of his public literary 
and political career. It is strongly urged that the student find 
for himself more about these years in one of the most read- 
able biographies ever written, " The Life and Letters of Lord 
Macaulay," by his nephew, George Otto Trevelyan. 

The same year in which Macaulay received the master's 
degree from Cambridge he wrote the famous essay on Milton, 
the second of a series of forty essays that he contributed to 
the Edinburgh Review in the years from January, 1825, to 
October, 1844. At the age of twenty-six he became a barrister 
in Lincoln's Inn, London. Caring more for politics and litera- 
ture than for law, he spent more time listening to speeches in 
the House of Commons, making Whig speeches at political 
meetings, and writing for the magazines than he spent in the 
practice of the law. Through the aid of a political opponent, 
Lord Lyndhurst, he became Commissioner in Bankruptcy in 
1828. Two years later, through the assistance of Lord Lans- 
downe, who had been greatly interested by the essay on Mill, 
Macaulay became a member of Parliament for Calne. His 
Reform Bill speeches, though uttered in a rapid, somewhat 
monotonous delivery, gained for him a reputation for eloquence, 
and when printed were found to be convincing in thought. The 
literary and political celebrities, whether belonging to his own 
party, the Whigs, or to the opposing party, praised the vigorous 
new member. Yet when his commissionership and his college 
fellowship both came to an end in 1832, he had to pawn his 
college gold medals, notwithstanding his very considerable and 
growing reputation ; it is said that at this time he scarcely knew 
where to turn for a morsel of bread. 

However, the financial trouble soon passed away, for he was 
made a commissioner of the Board of Control of Indian affairs, 
and a year later became secretary of the board. In Parliament 



INTRODUCTION xiii 

he was now representing the manufacturing city of Leeds. 
His speech in 1833 on the bill for the renewal of the charter 
of the East India Company was considered a remarkable effort. 
In February, 1834, he sailed for India at a salary of ,£10,000 
a year for five years as law member of the Supreme Council 
of India. One reason why he consented to go to India was that, 
though he had no desire whatever for riches, he did wish a 
reasonable income for life, and the Indian position promised 
him such an income if he would be careful to save from his 
large salary. His greatest work for the distant empire was done 
as president of a commission for composing a criminal code for 
India. This code was published in 1837, but did not become 
law till i860. Another Indian service of permanent value was 
his work as president of a committee which founded the educa- 
tional system of India. 

He returned to England in 1838. Soon after his return, he 
was on the point of fighting a duel with a man whose book he 
had mercilessly criticized in the Edinburgh Review, but the 
duel was averted by friends of the parties. In the autumn of 
1838 he traveled in Italy. 

In March, 1839, ne De g an his " History of England," which 
is more fascinating than most novels (Macaulay read thousands 
of novels). He did not accomplish much at first on the His- 
tory, because the people of Edinburgh invited him to stand for 
a seat in Parliament as their representative. He was elected 
in 1839 and continued to represent Edinburgh for eight years. 
Soon after his election he became Secretary of War, holding 
the position for two years. His essay on Clive appeared in 
the Edinburgh Review in January, 1840, and his Hastings in 
October, 1841. In 1842 he was instrumental in the passage 
of a copyright law giving to authors sole ownership of their 
writings for forty-two years after publication. He published 
his "Lays of Ancient Rome" in 1842. The next year, since 
publishers were bringing out his essays without paying him 



xiv INTRODUCTION 

anything for them, he felt obliged to publish a complete copy- 
righted edition. He became paymaster-general in 1846. The 
following year, because of his active support of the toleration 
acts and his general air of independence, he lost his Edinburgh 
seat in the House and retired from political life to finish his 
"History of England." 

Volumes I and II of the History appeared in 1848. Their 
author was installed Lord Rector of Glasgow University in 
1849. He declined a Cambridge professorship of modern his- 
tory and a cabinet position. In 1852, owing to the tremendous 
amount of work that he had done in so short a time, his health 
broke down ; but he was that year urged to represent Edin- 
burgh again in Parliament, and did so. His last speech in the 
House was made in July, 1853. He prepared civil-service rules 
and examinations for India in 1854. He published Volumes 
III and IV of his History in 1855, receiving in the next 
year ,£20,000 in royalties. For his articles on Goldsmith and 
Johnson, contributed in 1856 to the Encyclopaedia Britannica, 
he refused any payment, saying that these were labors of love 
and that he needed for his own wants, he having never married, 
no more money than he had. On account of ill health he gave 
up his seat in Parliament in 1856. Now, when he was near- 
ing the end of his life, he took up his residence in Holly Lodge, 
near Kensington Palace, London. In 1857 he was made 
Baron Macaulay of Rothley, but rarely took his seat in the 
House of Lords. That year, too, he was made high steward 
of the borough of Cambridge. He kept working on his His- 
tory till his death, December 28, 1859, at Holly Lodge. He 
was buried in the Poets' Corner in Westminster Abbey. 

In looking back over this biography a reader cannot fail to 
be astonished at the immense amount of work that Macaulay 
was able to do. His literary activity, as the greatest essayist 
of his time in his particular field of biography, and as the most 
popular writer after Scott, would alone seem to be enough for 



INTRODUCTION xv 

a busy life of an extraordinary man. His work in Parliament 
as a speaker of unquestioned oratorical power and keen intel- 
lectual grasp of great questions would alone make enough 
activity for all but the most exceptional members. His con- 
structive, permanently effective work in advancing important 
reforms in India and in England would fill up more than three- 
score years of activity for most men. But Macaulay carried on 
all these lines of activity without seeming to be worried by any 
of them, and had time besides for a social life as a splendid 
talker in the homes of the wits of the age and as an affectionate 
uncle in his sister's home. There is no English writer who 
stands in the same class with Macaulay as the embodiment of 
energy ; no writer compares with him in the practical accom- 
plishment of the things that his keen, restless mind set before 
him to accomplish. The keynote of his life was hard work with 
a cheerful outlook. Only his History remains incomplete. 

QUESTIONS 

i. What have you learned in this book or elsewhere regarding 
the domestic life of Macaulay? 

2. What do you consider to be the use of knowing anything about 
the life of an author whose book you have read or are reading ? 

3. What did the world do for Macaulay? 

4. What did he do for the world ? 

5. What kind of preparation did he have for his life work? 

6. What official positions did he hold ? 

7. What kinds of writing did he do ? 

8. What writings of his have you read? Why have you read so 
many ? Why have you not read more ? 

9. In exactly one hundred words write a biography of Macaulay. 
Imagine that you are spending a certain amount of money (words) 
and see how you can spend your money to get the best returns for 
it. If you look at such a task as this in the right light you will soon 
come to see the value of words and the necessity for proportion. 

10. From Macaulay's schoolboy letter to his mother what can 
you infer concerning the temper and character of his parents? 



xvi INTRODUCTION 

OBJECT OF THE READING 

The essays on Clive and Hastings are to be read not as his- 
tory but as literature. This makes a great deal of difference 
to the student approaching the reading of the two essays for 
the first time. Bewilderment will be the state of the ordinary 
reader who plunges into even the first paragraph of Clive with 
the idea of understanding offhand every obscure historical 
allusion. That cannot be hoped for from school readers of 
to-day. Not " every schoolboy " does know the things that 
Macaulay thinks the schoolboy knows. In the matter of the 
history presented in these two essays the best that the average 
reader can do is to get a fairly good grip on the essential facts 
in the career of Robert Clive which made him recognized by 
historians as the British empire builder in India, and of the 
essential facts in the career of Warren Hastings which made 
him the great administrator of Indian affairs. If, besides the 
obvious large facts in the lives of these two men, the reader 
can understand some of the picturesque details and something 
of the general historical events involved, he may consider that 
he has enough of the information in the case to go on with the 
main purpose of the reading, which is to secure a grip on the 
method of literary presentation of historical facts as illustrated 
by Macaulay. Macaulay does not aim so much to instruct as to 
interest and entertain. It is his way of writing with which the 
reader of the essays in a course in literature is most concerned. 

The pupil, then, need not feel discouraged if parts of the 
essays make him sleepy. It might be a good idea first to hurry 
through the essays, skimming the cream of lively narrative, 
e.g. Give's defense of Arcot and his contest for a seat in 
Parliament. It would be advisable, after such a hurried glance 
through the pages, to take a second look a little more carefully. 
The first view would show the most interesting narrative parts ; 
the second would make the main divisions clear and would 



INTRODUCTION xvii 

take in as many details as it might seem advisable to try to 
absorb in the time at the disposal of the reader. A final general- 
view would clinch the main facts in the careers of the two 
Englishmen most concerned in the evolution of English control 
in India, and would give a final impression of the author's 
characteristic manner of writing as illustrated in these essays. 

PLACE OF THE ESSAYS IN THE HISTORY OF 
ENGLISH LITERATURE 

The Clive and Hastings represent Macaulay's historical as 
opposed to his literary essays. By common consent Macaulay 
is recognized as having done better work in his historical than 
in his literary essays, for, though he had an eye for the pictur- 
esque and could tell graphically the outward events of a man's 
life or of a national epoch, he lacked the subtlety of understand- 
ing and fineness of feeling necessary to supreme success in dis- 
cussing the essence of a spiritually minded man's writings or in 
penetrating to the core of a period of national literature. Yet 
because of this very limitation of his he was able better to please 
his contemporaries than any other nonimaginative writer of the 
time. His series of fascinating review articles made an era in 
the history of literature. 

It was this series that alone was able to rival in popularity 
in the Victorian age the immense output of novels produced by 
Eliot, Dickens, and Thackeray, to mention only a few of the 
popular novelists of the time. Macaulay's essays, particularly 
his historical essays, put human interest consistently to the front. 
Macaulay and the contemporary writers of essays — Carlyle, 
for instance — thought that history should deal with " human 
beings of passions, caprices, moods, loves and hates, dwelling 
in a world of interesting costumes, arms, architecture, ideas 
and beliefs " (Lang). Consequently the historical writing of 
these men, whether in the form of long histories or shorter 



xviii INTRODUCTION 

essays, was as entertaining as instructive. It was literature 
because it was done with art and imbued with a powerful 
personality. The historical essays of Macaulay belong, then, 
in the front rank of the entertaining and instructive essays 
produced in the early Victorian age of English literature. 

SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF LORD CLIVE 

Sir William Hunter in " A Brief History of Indian Peoples " 
strikingly characterizes the work of Lord Clive by saying that 
from Clive's victory at Plassey dates the English supremacy in 
India, and from his second administration as governor date the 
English efforts at good government in India. This authoritative 
view of the achievements of Clive corresponds well with the 
estimate in Macaulay's essay. In fact, the essay of Macaulay 
is to be trusted in the main as giving a fair and accurate account 
of the life of Clive. Yet, since Macaulay inserts few dates, a 
succinct narrative of the principal events of Lord Clive's life 
may assist the reader to follow the essay. 

Robert Clive, born September 29, 1725, near Market-Drayton 
in Shropshire, England, was the eldest of the thirteen children 
of an impoverished country squire. In school he was constantly 
in trouble because of his high temper and mischievous spirit. 
In 1743 he was offered a clerkship in the East India service. 
The next year, after an unusually long voyage, during which 
he learned Portuguese, he reached Madras penniless. Having 
small pay and no friends, he soon tried to kill himself. In 1746 
he was taken prisoner by Labourdonnais, but escaped to Fort 
St. David. Entering the military 7 service as ensign, in 1747, he 
next year distinguished himself by his bravery at the unsuccess- 
ful siege of Pondicherry. He became lieutenant under Major 
Stringer Lawrence. Then he was promoted to be commissariat 
officer. He was twice in charge of reinforcements sent to 
Trichinopoly, and in 1750 became captain, in charge of several 



INTRODUCTION xix 

hundred men. He captured Arcot. capital of the Carnatic, in 
1 7 5 1 . Then with only eighty European soldiers and fewer than 
two hundred native soldiers he successfully defended Arcot 
while it was besieged by seven thousand troops from Septem- 
ber 23 to November 14. 1751. Taking the offensive, he now 
defeated the French and natives in several engagements, and 
helped Major Lawrence capture Trichinopoly. He married, in 
1752, Margaret Maskelyne. In poor health he returned to Eng- 
land, 1753. There he paid his father's debts, and was elected 
to Parliament but was not seated. 

In 1755 he was again in Bombay, having now been appointed 
lieutenant colonel. He captured the pirate stronghold, Gheriah, 
in 1756. He took charge of Fort St. David just before the 
Calcutta Black Hole massacre, and set out at once to avenge 
the atrocity. He captured Calcutta in 1757, forcing the native 
ruler responsible for the massacre, Surajah Dowlah. Nabob of 
Bengal, to sue for peace. Next he captured Chandernagore. 
When he discovered treacherous intentions in the Nabob, he 
abetted a conspiracy by which the Nabob's general, Meer Jaf- 
fier, was to become Nabob. Omichund, a Hindoo go-between 
who threatened to betray the conspiracy. Clive tricked by means 
of two treaties, one genuine, the other false. Thus gaining time, 
he thoroughly defeated the Nabob at the battle of Plassey, 
June, 1757. After this he made Meer Jaffier Nabob, who soon 
permitted Surajah Dowlah to be put to death. From Meer Jaf- 
fier Clive accepted a large present and the quitrent of the Com- 
pany's territory. As soon as the news of the victor}' of Plassey 
reached the directors, they made Clive Governor of Bengal, 
1758. In 1759 he defeated a Dutch armament that had 
entered the Hoogley to found a rival colony. He returned to 
England in 1760. A rich man, he was promptly raised to the 
Irish peerage as Lord Clive, Baron of Plassey. In 1764 he was 
chosen Knight of the Bath. Great abuses having arisen in the 
Indian administration, Lord Clive was sent out to make reforms. 



xx INTRODUCTION 

He reached Bengal as Governor for the second time, May, 
1765. His reforms in both the civil and the military service 
were far-reaching and drastic. By pensioning the Nabob of 
Bengal he secured to the Company the supreme power in the 
province. Out of a legacy from Meer Jaffier he established a 
fund for invalid officers of the Company. With health gone, he 
returned to England in 1767. There was a parliamentary inquiry 
into his acts, 1 772-1773, marked by much bitterness but end- 
ing only in a gentle censure. Though honored by being installed 
as Knight of the Bath and Lord Lieutenant of Shropshire, 
Clive became sick and gloomy, a victim of opium. He com : 
mitted suicide, November, 1774. 

The best accounts of his life and services to England will be 
found in the following books, at least one of which may be 
accessible to the reader who desires more detailed information : 
Malcolm, " Life of Robert, Lord Clive " (3 vols., London, 1836), 
the book on which Macaulay based his review article ; Malleson, 
" Founders of the Indian Empire : Lord Clive " (London, 1882) ; 
Mill, " History of British India, " Vol. Ill ; Orme, " History of 
the Military Transactions of the British Nation in Indostan 
from the year 1745 " (London, 1803). 

SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF WARREN HASTINGS 

In Sichel's biography of Richard B. Sheridan, published in 
1909, this summarizing sentence follows a long discussion of 
the speeches which Sheridan made against Hastings during the 
impeachment trial : " Warren Hastings was a pioneer of empire, 
a great, ruling Englishman, and he did his duty according to his 
lights." It is worth while to try to sift out the conflicting state- 
ments concerning the deeds of this great pioneer of empire and 
see in brief just what he did during his long life. Born in Oxford- 
shire, December 6, 1732, he lived as a child with his grandfather 
in the rectory of Daylesford House, near Adlestrop, a few miles 



INTRODUCTION xxi 

northwest of Oxford. His father's elder brother, Howard, sent 
him to school in 1740 to Newington Butts and in 1742 to 
Westminster School. Here he stood first in a competition for a 
scholarship, Elijah Impey standing three places below him, and 
here he continued his studies till 1 748. At the death of his uncle 
he was sent to a private tutor's to prepare for the East Indian 
civil service. In October, 1750, he arrived at Calcutta. Serving 
in Calcutta as a clerk for the Company, he was promoted to 
be its representative at Cossimbazar. Here he was taken 
prisoner by the Nabob of Bengal and sent to Moorshedabad. 
His ability to speak the Persian and Hindostanee languages 
was a valuable aid to him at this time in his negotiations with / 
the native princes. In 1757 he served as a soldier with Clivew 
He was agent for the Company at Moorshedabad, 1 757-1 760, 
and member of the Council at Calcutta, 1761-1764. He was 
dispatched on an important mission to Patna in 1762. Moder- 
ately rich, he returned to England, 1764. By the evidence he 
gave on Indian affairs, 1766, before a parliamentary committee, 
he made something of a stir in England. During his visit to 
his native land he wasted his money. 

In 1769 he returned to India as second in council at Madras. 
On the voyage out he fell in love with Baroness Imhoff. He 
became governor of Bengal, 1772, with residence at Calcutta. 
His chief work at this time was the change he accomplished in 
the financial and judicial system of Bengal, Behar, and Orissa, 
bringing these provinces closely under the direction of the 
Company. In 1773, in accordance with a treaty made nine 
years* before, he assisted Sujah Dowlah, Nabob of Oude, against 
the Rohillas. He largely suppressed wandering bands of robbers. 

The Regulating Act of 1773 made Hastings Governor-Gen- 
eral. As such he was opposed by a majority of the Council, 
but in the end he always had his way. He was accused by 
Nuncomar of having taken a bribe. He in turn accused Nun- 
comar of conspiracy and sent a conditional resignation to the 



xxii INTRODUCTION 

Company. Before the case of Nuncomar was taken up, that 
high-caste Brahmin was hanged for forgery, 1775, on a charge 
brought by an obscure native, the case being decided by 
Supreme Court Justice Elijah Impey. Hastings sold the privi- 
lege of the opium trade for a term of years, and thus increased 
the public revenues. Having the support of the Supreme Court, 
1777, he continued as Governor in spite of the acceptance in 
London of his tentatively offered resignation. He was soon 
vindicated by the Court of Proprietors. He married the 
Baroness Imhoff, whose reputation Macaulay unjustly slurs. 
He checked the rising power of the Mahrattas. In a duel in 
1780 he wounded Francis, and thus became untrammeled by 
the bitter opposition of this fellow member of council. He 
drove Hyder Ali from the Carnatic and attacked the French 
settlements. He heavily fined Cheyte Sing of Benares in 1781. 
He is charged with having been a party to the imprisonment 
of the Begums of Oude and with having mercilessly stripped 
them of their land and wealth. He founded the learned Asiatic 
Society, 1784, and returned to England, 1785. 

Triumphant in nearly every act of his in India, he was 
buffeted about in England for the next ten years. The House 
of Commons passed a vote of censure, 1786, for his fining 
Cheyte Sing so heavily. He was impeached, 1787, on the 
charge of corruption and cruelty in his Indian administration. 
The trial lasted from 1788 to 1795. Though he was acquitted, 
he had to spend ,£70,000 in the conduct of his defense. This 
sum was made up to him, however, by the Company. 

He lived in retirement at Daylesford, 1 795-1818, receiving 
a few home honors in his old age — membership in the Privy 
Council, a doctor's degree from Oxford, public presentation to 
the allied sovereigns by the Prince Regent in London, and re- 
spectful reception by the House of Commons standing with 
bared heads. He died in 18 18 and is honored by a bust in 
Westminster Abbey. 



INTRODUCTION xxiii 

The reader who desires further to pursue the subject of the 
life and administration of Hastings will find it advisable to con- 
sult some or all of the books named below : Lyall, " Warren 
Hastings" (London, 1889), the most satisfactory book yet 
written in this field ; Malleson, " Life of Warren Hastings " 
(London, 1894), a more detailed book than Lyall's but im- 
pressing one as not impartial ; Trotter, " Warren Hastings " 
(London, 1878); Lawson, "Private Life of Warren Hastings" 
(London, 1895), made interesting by its many pictures; Gleig, 
" Memoirs of the Life of Warren Hastings " (3 vols., London, 
1841), the book which Macaulay took as excuse for his essay; 
Strachey, "Hastings and the Rohilla War" (Oxford, 1892), 
in which it is shown that, contrary to Macaulay's assertions, 
Hastings did not sell the Rohillas to the Nabob of Oude merely 
to enrich the Company, and that he did not tolerate nor permit 
undue violence against the Rohillas by the Nabob ; Stephen, 
" The Story of Nuncomar and Impeachment of Sir Elijah 
Impey," which authoritatively and finally disproves the story 
of the judicial murder of Nuncomar by Hastings and Impey. 
Stephen shows that the accusation of corruption brought by 
Nuncomar against Hastings had no validity, that the charge 
brought by a certain Indian lawyer of the forging of a bond by 
Nuncomar was sustained not by Impey alone but by a full vote 
of the Supreme Court, that Hastings is absolutely cleared of 
having maliciously framed an accusation against Nuncomar for 
the purpose of silencing him, and that Impey's part in the trial 
of Nuncomar was that of a fair and upright judge. A book con- 
firming the conclusions just mentioned and going even further 
in defense of Hastings is G. W. Hastings's "A Vindication of 
Warren Hastings" (London, 1909). Lastly, a valuable book 
containing documentary evidence on the subject of Hastings's 
acts is Forrest's "Administration of Warren Hastings," 1772- 
1785 (Calcutta, 1892). 




& I A N 

longitude East 



LORD CLIVE 



We have always thought it strange that, while the history 
of the Spanish empire in America is familiarly known to all 
the nations of Europe, the great actions of our countrymen 
in the East should, even among ourselves, excite little inter- 
est. Every schoolboy knows who imprisoned Montezuma, and 5 
who strangled Atahualpa; but we doubt whether one in ten, 
even among English gentlemen of highly cultivated minds, can 
tell who won the battle of Buxar, who perpetrated the massacre 
of Patna, whether Sujah Dowlah ruled in Oude or in Travan- 
core, or whether Holkar was a Hindoo or a Mussulman. Yet 10 
the victories of Cortes were gained over savages who had no 
letters, who were ignorant -of the use of metals, who had not 
broken in a single animal to labor, who wielded no better 
weapons than those which could be made out of sticks, flints, 
and fishbones, who regarded a horse soldier as a monster, half 1 5 
man and half beast, who took a harquebusier for a sorcerer, able 
to scatter the thunder and lightning of the skies. The people 
of India, when we subdued them, were ten times as numerous 
as the Americans whom the Spaniards vanquished, and were at 
the same time quite as highly civilized as the victorious Span- 20 
iards. They had reared cities larger and fairer than Saragossa 
or Toledo, and buildings more beautiful and costly than the 
cathedral of Seville. They could show bankers richer than the 
richest firms of Barcelona or Cadiz, viceroys whose splendor far 
surpassed that of Ferdinand the Catholic, myriads of cavalry 25 
and long trains of artillery which would have astonished the 
Great Captain. It might have been expected that every 



2 LORD CLIVE 

Englishman who takes any interest in any part of history would 
be curious to know how a handful of his countrymen, separated 
from their home by an immense ocean, subjugated, in the 
course of a few years, one of the greatest empires in the world. 
5 Yet, unless we greatly err, this subject is, to most readers, not 
only insipid but positively distasteful. 

Perhaps the fault lies partly with the historians. Mr. Mill's 
book, though it has undoubtedly great and rare merit, is not 
sufficiently animated and picturesque to attract those who read 

10 for amusement. Orme, inferior to no English historian in style 
and power of painting, is minute even to tediousness. In one 
volume he allots, on an average, a closely printed quarto page 
to the events of every forty-eight hours. The consequence is 
that his narrative, though one of the most authentic and one of 

15 the most finely written in our language, has never been very 
popular, and is now scarcely ever read. 

We fear that the volumes before us will not much attract 
those readers whom Orme and Mill have repelled. The mate- 
rials placed at the disposal of Sir John Malcolm by the late 

20 Lord Powis were indeed of great value. But we cannot say that 
they have been very skillfully worked up. It would, however, 
be unjust to criticise with severity a work which, if the author 
had lived to complete and revise it, would probably have been 
improved by condensation and by a better arrangement. We 

25 are more disposed to perform the pleasing duty of expressing 
our gratitude to the noble family to which the public owes so 
much useful and curious information. 

The effect of the book, even when we make the largest 
allowance for the partiality of those who have furnished and 

30 of those who have digested the materials, is, on the whole, 
greatly to raise the character of Lord Clive. We are far indeed 
from sympathizing with Sir John Malcolm, whose love passes 
the love of biographers, and who can see nothing but wisdom 
and justice in the actions of his idol. But we are at least equally 



LORD CLIVE 3 

far from concurring in the severe judgment of Mr. Mill, who 
seems to us to show less discrimination in his account of Clive 
than in any other part of his valuable work. Clive, like most 
men who are born with strong passions and tried by strong 
temptations, committed great faults. But every person who 5 
takes a fair and enlightened view of his whole career must 
admit that our island, so fertile in heroes and statesmen, has 
scarcely ever produced a man more truly great either in arms 
or in council. 

The Clives had been settled, ever since the twelfth century, 10 
on an estate of no great value, near Market-Dray ton, in Shrop- 
shire. In the reign of George the First this moderate but 
ancient inheritance was possessed by Mr. Richard Clive, who 
seems to have been a plain man of no great tact or capacity. 
He had been bred to the law, and divided his time between 15 
professional business and the avocations of a small proprietor. 
He married a lady from Manchester, of the name of Gaskill, 
and became the father of a very numerous family. His eldest 
son, Robert, the founder of the British empire, in India, was 
born at the old seat of his ancestors on the twenty-ninth of 20 
September, 1725. 

Some lineaments of the character of the man were early 
discerned in the child. There remain letters written by his 
relations when he was in his seventh year; and from these 
letters it appears that even at that early age his strong will 25 
and his fiery passions, sustained by a constitutional intrepidity 
which sometimes seemed hardly compatible with soundness 
of mind, had begun to cause great uneasiness to his family. 
"Fighting," says one of his uncles, "to which he is out of 
measure addicted, gives his temper such a fierceness and impe- 30 
riousness, that he flies out on every trifling occasion." The 
old people of the neighborhood still remember to have heard 
from their parents how Bob Clive climbed to the top of the 
lofty steeple of Market-Drayton, and with what terror the 



4 LORD CLIVE 

inhabitants saw him seated on a stone spout near the summit. 
They also relate how he formed all the idle lads of the town 
into a kind of predatory army, and compelled the shopkeepers 
to submit to a tribute of apples and halfpence, in consideration 
5 of which he guaranteed the security of their windows. He was 
sent from school to school, making very little progress in his 
learning, and gaining for himself everywhere the character of 
an exceedingly naughty boy. One of his masters, it is said, 
was sagacious enough to prophesy that the idle lad would make 

10 a great figure in the world. But the general opinion seems to 
have been that poor Robert was a dunce, if not a reprobate. 
His family expected nothing good from such slender parts and 
such a headstrong temper. It is not strange, therefore, that 
they gladly accepted for him, when he was in his eighteenth 

15 year, a writership in the service of the East India Company, 
and shipped him off to make a fortune or to die of a fever 
at Madras. 

Far different were the prospects of Clive from those of the 
youths whom the East India College now annually sends to the 

20 Presidencies of our Asiatic empire. The Company was then 
purely a trading corporation. Its territory consisted of a few 
square miles, for which rent was paid to the native governments. 
Its troops were scarcely numerous enough to man the batteries 
of three or four ill-constructed forts, which had been erected 

25 for the protection of the warehouses. The natives, who com- 
posed a considerable part of these little garrisons, had not yet 
been trained in the discipline of Europe, and were armed, some 
with swords and shields, some with bows and arrows. The 
business of the servant of the Company was not, as now, to 

30 conduct the judicial, financial, and diplomatic business of a 
great country, but to take stock, to make advances to weavers, 
to ship cargoes, and, above all, to keep an eye on private traders 
who dared to infringe the monopoly. The younger clerks were 
so miserably paid that they could scarcely subsist without 



LORD CLIVE 5 

incurring debt; the elder enriched themselves by trading on 
their own account, and those who lived to rise to the top of 
the service often accumulated considerable fortunes. 

Madras, to which Clive had been appointed, was, at this 
time, perhaps, the first in importance of the Company's settle- 5 
ments. In the preceding century Fort St. George had arisen 
on a barren spot beaten by a raging surf ; and in the neighbor- 
hood a town, inhabited by many thousands of natives, had 
sprung up, as towns spring up in the East, with the rapidity of 
the prophet's gourd. There were already in the suburbs many 10 
white villas, each surrounded by its garden, whither the wealthy 
agents of the Company retired, after the labors of the desk and 
the warehouse, to enjoy the cool breeze which springs up at 
sunset from the Bay of Bengal. The habits of these mercantile 
grandees appear to have been more profuse, luxurious, and 15 
ostentatious than those of the high judicial and political func- 
tionaries who have succeeded them. But comfort was far less 
understood. Many devices which now mitigate the heat of the 
climate, preserve health, and prolong life were unknown. There 
was far less intercourse with Europe than at present. The 20 
voyage by the Cape, which in our time has often been per- 
formed within three months, was then very seldom accom-- 
plished in six, and was sometimes protracted to more than a 
year. Consequently the Anglo-Indian was then much more 
estranged from his country, much more addicted to Oriental 25 
usages, and much less fitted to mix in society after his return 
to Europe than the Anglo-Indian of the present day. 

Within the fort and its precincts the English governors exer- 
cised, by permission of the native rulers, an extensive authority, 
such as every great Indian landowner exercised within his own 30 
domain. But they had never dreamed of claiming independent 
power. The surrounding country was governed by the Nabob 
of the Carnatic, a deputy of the Viceroy of the Deccan, com- 
monly called the Nizam, who was himself only a deputy of the 



6 LORD CLIVF, 

mighty prince designated by our ancestors as the Great Mogul. 
Those names, once so august and formidable, still remain. 
There is still a Nabob of the Carnatic, who lives on a pension 
allowed to him by the English out of the revenues of the prov- 
5 ince which his ancestors ruled. There is still a Nizam, whose 
capital is overawed by a British cantonment, and to whom a 
British resident gives, under the name of advice, commands 
which are not to be disputed. There is still a Mogul, who is 
permitted to play at holding courts and receiving petitions, but 

10 who has less power to help or hurt than the youngest civil 
servant of the Company. 

Clive's voyage was unusually tedious even for that age. The 
ship remained some months at the Brazils, where the young 
adventurer picked up some knowledge of Portuguese and spent 

15 all his pocket money. He did not arrive in India till more than 
a year after he had left England. His situation at Madras was 
most painful. His funds were exhausted. His pay was small. 
He had contracted debts. He was wretchedly lodged, no small 
calamity in a climate which can be made tolerable to a European 

20 only by spacious and well-placed apartments. He had been fur- 
nished with letters of recommendation to a gentleman who might 
have assisted him ; but when he landed at Fort St. George he 
found that this gentleman had sailed for England. The lad's 
shy and haughty disposition withheld him from introducing him- 

25 self to strangers. He was several months in India before he 
became acquainted with a single family. The- climate affected 
his health and spirits. His duties were of a kind ill suited to 
his ardent and daring character. He pined for his home, and 
in his letters to his relations expressed his feelings in language 

30 softer and more pensive than we should have expected either 
from the waywardness of his boyhood or from the inflexible 
sternness of his later years. " I have not enjoyed," says he, 
"one happy day since I left my native country"; and again, 
" I must confess, at intervals, when I think of my dear native 



LORD CLIVE 7 

England, it affects me in a very particular manner. ... If I 
should be so far blest as to revisit again my own country, but 
more especially Manchester, the center of all my wishes, all 
that I could hope or desire for would be presented before me 
in one view." 5 

One solace he found of the most respectable kind. The Gov- 
ernor possessed a good library, and permitted Clive to have 
access to it. The young man devoted much of his leisure to 
reading, and acquired at this time almost all the knowledge of 
books that he ever possessed. As a boy he had been too idle, 10 
as a man he soon became too busy, for literary pursuits. 

But neither climate nor poverty, neither study nor the sor- 
rows of a homesick exile, could tame the desperate audacity of 
his spirit. He behaved to his official superiors as he had behaved 
to his schoolmasters, and was several times in danger of losing 1 5 
his situation. Twice, while residing in the Writers' Buildings, 
he attempted to destroy himself ; and twice the -pistol which he 
snapped at his own head failed to go off. This circumstance, 
it is said, affected him as a similar escape affected Wallenstein. 
After satisfying himself that the pistol was really well loaded, 20 
he burst forth into an exclamation that surely he was reserved 
for something great. 

About this time an event which at first seemed likely to de- 
stroy all his hopes in life suddenly opened before him a new 
path to eminence. Europe had been, during some years, dis- 25 
tracted by the war of the Austrian succession. George the 
Second was the steady ally of Maria Theresa. The house of 
Bourbon took the opposite side. Though England was even 
then the first of maritime powers, she was not, as she has since 
become, more than a match on the sea for all the nations of the 30 
world together ; and she found it difficult to maintain a contest 
against the united navies of France and Spain. In the eastern 
seas France obtained the ascendancy. Labourdonnais, governor 
of Mauritius, a man of eminent talents and virtues, conducted 



8 LORD CLIVE 

an expedition to the continent of India in spite of the opposition 
of the British fleet, landed, assembled an army, appeared before 
Madras, and compelled the town and fort to capitulate. The 
keys were delivered up ; the French colors were displayed on 
5 Fort St. George ; and the contents of the Company's ware- 
houses were seized as prize of war by the conquerors. It was 
stipulated by the capitulation that the English inhabitants should 
be prisoners of war on parole, and that the town should remain 
in the hands of the French till it should be ransomed. Labour- 

10 donnais pledged his honor that only a moderate ransom should 
be required. 

But the success of Labourdonnais had awakened the jealousy 
of his countryman, Dupleix, governor of Pondicherry. Dupleix, 
moreover, had already begun to revolve gigantic schemes, with 

1 5 which the restoration of Madras to the English was by no means 
compatible. He declared that Labourdonnais had gone beyond 
his powers; that conquests made by the French arms on the 
continent of India were at the disposal of the governor of Pondi- 
cherry alone ; and that Madras should be razed to the ground. 

20 Labourdonnais was compelled to yield. The anger which the 
breach of the capitulation excited among the English was in- 
creased by the ungenerous manner in which Dupleix treated 
the principal servants of the Company. The Governor and sev- 
eral of the first gentlemen of Fort St. George were carried 

2 5 under a guard to Pondicherry, and conducted through the town 
in a triumphal procession under the eyes of fifty thousand spec- 
tators. It was with reason thought that this gross violation of 
public faith absolved the inhabitants of Madras from the engage- 
ments into which they had entered with Labourdonnais. Clive 

30 fled from the town by night in the disguise of a Mussulman, 
and took refuge at Fort St. David, one of the small English 
settlements subordinate to Madras. 

The circumstances in which he was now placed naturally 
led him to adopt a profession better suited to his restless and 



LORD CLIVE 9 

intrepid spirit than the business of examining packages and cast- 
ing accounts. He solicited and obtained an ensign's commission 
in the service of the Company, and at twenty-one entered on his 
military career. His personal courage, of which he had, while 
still a writer, given signal proof by a desperate duel with a 5 
military bully who was the terror of Fort St. David, speedily 
made him conspicuous even among hundreds of brave men. He 
soon began to show in his new calling other qualities which had 
not before been discerned in him : judgment, sagacity, deference 
to legitimate authority. He distinguished himself highly in 10 
several operations against the French, and was particularly 
noticed by Major Lawrence, who was then considered as the 
ablest British officer in India. 

Clive had been only a few months in the army when intelli- 
gence arrived that peace had been concluded between Great 15 
Britain and France. Dupleix was in consequence compelled to 
restore Madras to the English Company, and the young ensign 
was at liberty to resume his former business. He did indeed 
return for a short time to his desk. He again quitted it in order 
to assist Major Lawrence in some petty hostilities with the na- 20 
tives, and then again returned to it. (While he was thus wavering 
between a military and a commercial life, events took place which ^. 
decided his choice. ./ The politics of India assumed a new aspect. 
There was peace between the English and French Crowns, but 
there arose between the English and French Companies trading 25 
to the East a war most eventful and important, a war in which 
the prize was nothing less than the magnificent inheritance of 
the house of Tamerlane. 

The empire which Baber and his Moguls reared in the six- 
teenth century was long one of the most extensive and splendid 30 
in the world. In no European kingdom was so large a popula- 
tion subject to a single prince, or so large a revenue poured into 
the treasury. The beauty and magnificence of the buildings 
erected by the sovereigns of Hindostan amazed even travelers 



IO LORD CLIVE 

who had seen St. Peter's. The innumerable retinues and gor- 
geous decorations which surrounded the throne of Delhi dazzled 
even eyes which were accustomed to the pomp of Versailles. 
Some of the great viceroys who held their posts by virtue of 
5 commissions from the Mogul ruled as many subjects as the 
King of France or the Emperor of Germany. Even the deputies 
of these deputies might well rank, as to extent of territory and 
amount of revenue, with the Grand Duke of Tuscany, or the 
Elector of Saxony. 

io There can be little doubt that this great empire, powerful and 
prosperous as it appears on a superficial view, was yet, even in 
its best days, far worse governed than the worst governed parts 
of Europe now are. The administration was tainted with all the 
vices of Oriental despotism and with all the vices inseparable 

15 from the domination of race over race. The conflicting pre- 
tensions of the princes of the royal house produced a long 
series of crimes and public disasters. Ambitious lieutenants of 
the sovereign sometimes aspired to independence. Fierce tribes 
of Hindoos, impatient of a foreign yoke, frequently withheld 

20 tribute, repelled the armies of the government from the moun- 
tain fastnesses, and poured down in arms on the cultivated 
plains. In spite, however, of much constant maladministration, 
in spite of occasional convulsions which shook the whole frame 
of society, this great monarchy, on the whole, retained, during 

25 some generations, an outward appearance of unity, majesty, and 
energy. But throughout the long reign of Aurungzebe, the 
state, notwithstanding all that the vigor and policy of the prince 
could effect, was hastening to dissolution. After his death, which 
took place in the year 1707, the ruin was fearfully rapid. 

30 Violent shocks from without cooperated with an incurable 
decay which was fast proceeding within, and in a few years the 
empire had undergone utter decomposition. 

The history of the successors of Theodosius bears no small 
analogy to that of the successors of Aurungzebe. But perhaps 



LORD CLIVE II 

the fall of the Carlovingians furnishes the nearest parallel to the 
fall of the Moguls. Charlemagne was scarcely interred when 
the imbecility and the disputes of his descendants began to 
bring contempt on themselves and destruction on their subjects. 
The wide dominion of the Franks was severed into a thousand 5 
pieces. Nothing more than a nominal dignity was left to the 
abject heirs of an illustrious name, Charles the Bald, and Charles 
the Fat, and Charles the Simple. Fierce invaders, differing from 
each other in race, language, and religion, flocked, as if by con- 
cert, from the farthest corners of the earth, to plunder provinces 10 
which the government could no longer defend. The pirates of 
the Northern Sea extended their ravages from the Elbe to the 
Pyrenees, and at length fixed their seat in the rich valley of the 
Seine. The Hungarian, in whom the trembling monks fancied 
that they recognized the Gog or Magog of prophecy, carried 15 
back the plunder of the cities of Lombardy to the depths of the 
Pannonian forests. The Saracen ruled in Sicily, desolated the 
fertile plains of Campania, and spread terror even to the walls 
of Rome. In the midst of these sufferings, a great internal 
change passed upon the empire. The corruption of death began 20 
to ferment into new forms of life. While the great body, as a 
whole, was torpid and passive, every separate member began to 
feel with a sense and to move with an energy all its own. Just 
here, in the most barren and dreary tract of European history, 
all feudal privileges, all modern nobility, take their source. It 25 
is to this point that we trace the power of those princes who, 
nominally vassals but really independent, long governed, with 
the titles of dukes, marquises, and counts, almost every part of 
the dominions which had obeyed Charlemagne. 

Such or nearly such was the change which passed on the 30 
Mogul empire during the forty years which followed the death 
of Aurungzebe. A succession of nominal sovereigns, sunk in 
indolence and debauchery, sauntered away life in secluded 
palaces, chewing bhang, fondling concubines, and listening to 



12 LORD CLIVE 

buffoons. A succession of ferocious invaders descended through 
the western passes, to prey on the defenseless wealth of Hindo- 
stan. A Persian conqueror crossed the Indus, marched through 
the gates of Delhi, and bore away in triumph those treasures of 
5 which the magnificence had astounded Roe and Bernier, the 
Peacock Throne, on which the richest jewels of Golcondahad 
been disposed by the most skillful hands of Europe, and the in- 
estimable Mountain of Light, which, after many strange vicissi- 
tudes, lately shone in the bracelet of Runjeet Sing, and is now 

10 destined to adorn the hideous idol of Orissa. The Afghan soon 
followed to complete the work of devastation which the Persian 
had begun. The warlike tribes of Rajpootana threw off the 
Mussulman yoke. A band of mercenary soldiers occupied Rohil- 
cund. The Seiks ruled on the Indus. The Jauts spread dismay 

15 along the Jumna. The highlands which border on the western 
seacoast of India poured forth a yet more formidable race, a 
race which was long the terror of every native power, and which, 
after many desperate and doubtful struggles, yielded only to the 
fortune and genius of England. It was under the reign of 

20 Aurungzebe that this wild clan of plunderers first descended 
from their mountains ; and soon after his death every corner 
of his wide empire learned to tremble at the mighty name of 
the Mahrattas. Many fertile viceroyalties were entirely subdued 
by them. Their dominions stretched across the peninsula from 

25 sea to sea. Mahratta captains reigned at Poonah, at Gualior, in 
Guzerat, in Berar, and in Tanjore. Nor did they, though they 
had become great sovereigns, therefore cease to be freebooters. 
They still retained the predatory habits of their forefathers. 
Every region which was not subject to their rule was wasted by 

30 their incursions. Wherever their kettledrums were heard, the peas- 
ant threw his bag of rice on his shoulder, hid his small savings in 
his girdle, and fled with his wife and- children to the mountains 
or the jungles, to the milder neighborhood of the hyena and the 
tiger. Many provinces redeemed their harvests by the payment 



LORD CLIVE 13 

of an annual ransom. Even the wretched phantom who still 
bore the imperial title stooped to pay this ignominious black- 
mail. The camp fires of one rapacious leader were seen from 
the walls of the palace of Delhi. Another, at the head of his 
innumerable cavalry, descended year after year on the rice fields 5 
of Bengal. Even the European factors trembled for their maga- 
zines. Less than a hundred years ago it was thought necessary 
to fortify Calcutta against the horsemen of Berar ; and the name 
of the Mahratta ditch still preserves the memory of the danger. 

Wherever the viceroys of the Mogul retained authority, they 10 
became sovereigns. They might still acknowledge in words the 
superiority of the house of Tamerlane ; as a Count of Flanders 
or a Duke of Burgundy might have acknowledged the superiority 
of the most helpless driveler among the later Carlovingians. 
They might occasionally send to their titular sovereign a com- 1 5 
plimentary present, or solicit from him a title of honor. In 
truth, however, they were no longer lieutenants removable at 
pleasure, but independent hereditary princes. In this way origi- 
nated those great Mussulman houses which formerly ruled 
Bengal and the Carnatic, and those which still, though in a state 20 
of vassalage, exercise some of the powers of royalty at Lucknow 
and Hyderabad. 

In what was this confusion to end? Was the strife to con- 
tinue during centuries? Was it to terminate in the rise of 
another great monarchy ? Was the Mussulman or the Mahratta 25 
to be the Lord of India ? Was another Baber to descend from 
the mountains, and to lead the hardy tribes of Cabul and Cho- 
rasan against a wealthier and less warlike race ? None of these 
events seemed improbable. But scarcely any man, however 
sagacious, would have thought it possible that a trading company, 30 
separated from India by fifteen thousand miles of sea, and 
possessing in India only a few acres for purposes of commerce, 
would, in less than a hundred years, spread its empire from 
Cape Comorin to the eternal snow of the Himalayas ; would 



14 LORD CLIVE 

compel Mahratta and Mohammedan to forget their mutual feuds 
in common subjection ; would tame down even those wild races 
which had resisted the most powerful of the Moguls ; and, hav- 
ing united under its laws a hundred millions of subjects, would 
5 carry its victorious arms far to the east of the Burrampooter, 
and far to the west of the Hydaspes, dictate terms of peace at 
the gates of Ava, and seat its vassal on the throne of Candahar. 
The man who first saw that it was possible to found a European 
empire on the ruins of the Mogul monarchy was Dupleix. His 

io restless, capacious, and inventive mind had formed this scheme, 
at a time when the ablest servants of the English Company were 
busied only about invoices and bills of lading. Nor had he only 
proposed to himself the end. He had also a just and distinct 
view of the means by which it was to be attained. He clearly 

15 saw that the greatest force which the princes of India could 
bring into the field would be no match for a small body of men 
trained in the discipline, and guided by the tactics, of the West. 
He saw also that the natives of India might, under European 
commanders, be formed into armies such as Saxe or Frederic 

20 would be proud to command. He was perfectly aware that the 
most easy and convenient way in which a European adventurer 
could exercise sovereignty in India was to govern the motions, 
and to speak through the mouth, of some glittering puppet 
dignified by the title of Nabob or Nizam. The arts both of war 

25 and policy, which a few years later were employed with such 
signal success by the English, were first understood and prac- 
ticed by this ingenious and aspiring Frenchman. 

The situation of India was such that scarcely any aggression 
could be without a pretext, either in old laws or in recent prac- 

30 tice. All rights were in a state of utter uncertainty ; and the 
Europeans who took part in the disputes of the natives con- 
founded the confusion by applying to Asiatic politics the public 
law of the West and analogies drawn from the feudal system. 
If it was convenient to treat a Nabob as an independent prince, 



LORD CLIVE 15 

there was an excellent plea for doing so. He was independent 
in fact. If it was convenient to treat him as a mere deputy of 
the Court of Delhi, there was no difficulty ; for he was so in 
theory. If it was convenient to consider his office as a heredi- 
tary dignity, or as a dignity held during life only, or as a dignity 5 
held only during the good pleasure of the Mogul, arguments 
and precedents might be found for every one of those views. 
The party who had the heir of Baber in their hands represented 
him as the undoubted, the legitimate, the absolute sovereign, 
whom all subordinate authorities were bound to obey. The 10 
party against whom his name was used did not want plausible 
pretexts for maintaining that the empire was de facto dissolved, 
and that, though it might be decent to treat the Mogul with 
respect, as a venerable relic of an order of things which had 
passed away, it was absurd to regard him as the real master of 15 
Hindostan. 

In the year 1748 died one of the most powerful of the new 
masters of India, the great Nizam al Mulk, Viceroy of the 
Deccan. His authority descended to his son, Nazir Jung. Of 
the provinces subject to this high functionary, the Carnatic was 20 
the wealthiest and the most extensive. It was governed by an 
ancient Nabob, whose name the English corrupted into Ana- 
verdy Khan. 

But there were pretenders to the Government both of the 
viceroy alty and of the subordinate province. Mirzapha Jung, 25 
a grandson of Nizam al Mulk, appeared as the competitor of 
Nazir Jung. Chunda Sahib, son-in-law of a former Nabob of 
the Carnatic, disputed the title of Anaverdy Khan. In the 
unsettled state of Indian law it was easy for both Mirzapha 
Jung and Chunda Sahib to make out something like a claim of 30 
right. In a society altogether disorganized they had no diffi- 
culty in finding greedy adventurers to follow their standards. 
They united their interests, invaded the Carnatic, and applied 
for assistance to the French, whose fame had been raised by 



1 6 LORD CLIVE 

their success against the English in the recent war on the coast 
of Coromandel. 

Nothing could have happened more pleasing to the subtle 
and ambitious Dupleix. To make a Nabob of the Carnatic, to 
5 make a Viceroy of the Deccan, to rule under their names the 
whole of southern India : this was indeed an attractive prospect. 
He allied himself with the pretenders, and sent four hundred 
French soldiers, and two thousand sepoys, disciplined after the 
European fashion, to the assistance of his confederates. A 

10 battle was fought. The French distinguished themselves greatly. 
Anaverdy Khan was defeated and slain. His son Mohammed 
Ali, who was afterwards well known in England as the Nabob 
of Arcot, and who owes to the eloquence of Burke a most 
unenviable immortality, fled with a scanty remnant of his army 

15 to Trichinopoly ; and the conquerors became at once masters 
of almost every part of the Carnatic. 

This was but the beginning of the greatness of Dupleix. 
After some months of fighting, negotiation, and intrigue, his 
ability and good fortune seemed to have prevailed everywhere. 

20 Nazir Jung perished by the hands of his own followers ; Mir- 
zapha Jung was master of the Deccan ; and the triumph of 
French arms and French policy was complete. At Pondicherry 
all was exultation and festivity. Salutes were fired from the 
batteries, and Te Deum sung in the churches. The new Nizam 

25 came thither to visit his allies ; and the ceremony of his installa- 
tion was performed there with great pomp. Dupleix, dressed 
in the garb worn by Mohammedans of the highest rank, entered 
the town in the same palanquin with the Nizam, and, in the 
pageant which followed, took precedence of all the court. He 

30 was declared Governor of India from the river Kristna to Cape 
Comorin, a country about as large as France, with authority 
superior even to that of Chunda Sahib. He was intrusted with 
the command of seven thousand cavalry. It was announced 
that no mint would be suffered to exist in the Carnatic except 



LORD CLIVE 17 

that at Pondicherry. A large portion of the treasures which 
former Viceroys of the Deccan had accumulated found its way 
into the coffers of the French governor. It was rumored that 
he had received two hundred thousand pounds sterling in money, 
besides many valuable jewels. In fact, there could scarcely be 5 
any limit to his gains. He now ruled thirty millions of people 
with almost absolute power. No honor or emolument could be 
obtained from the government but by his intervention. No 
petition unless signed by him was perused by the Nizam. 

Mirzapha Jung survived his elevation only a few months. 10 
But another prince of the same house was raised to the throne 
by French influence, and ratified all the promises of his prede- 
cessor. Dupleix was now the greatest potentate in India. His 
countrymen boasted that his name was mentioned with awe 
even in the chambers of the palace of Delhi. The native popu- 15 
lation looked with amazement on the progress which, in the 
short space of four years, a European adventurer had made 
towards dominion in Asia. Nor was the vainglorious French- 
man content with the reality of power. He loved to display his 
greatness with arrogant ostentation before the eyes of his sub- 20 
jects and of his rivals. Near the spot where his policy had 
obtained its chief triumph, by the fall of Nazir Jung and the 
elevation of Mirzapha, he determined to erect a column, on the 
four sides of which four pompous inscriptions, in four languages, 
should proclaim his glory to all the nations of the East. Medals 25 
stamped with emblems of his successes were buried beneath 
the foundations of this stately pillar, and round it arose a town 
bearing the haughty name of Dupleix Fatihabad, which is, being 
interpreted, the City of the Victory of Dupleix. 

The English had made some feeble and irresolute attempts 30 
to stop the rapid and brilliant career of the rival Company, and 
continued to recognize Mohammed Ali as Nabob of the Car- 
natic. But the dominions of Mohammed Ali consisted of Trich- 
inopoly alone ; and Trichinopoly was now invested by Chunda 



1 8 LORD CLIVE 

Sahib and his French auxiliaries. To raise the siege seemed 
impossible. The small force which was then at Madras had no 
commander. Major Lawrence had returned to England, and 
not a single officer of established character remained in the 
5 settlement. The natives had learned to look with contempt on 
the mighty nation which was soon to conquer and to rule them. 
They had seen the French colors flying on Fort St. George ; 
they had seen the chiefs of the English factory led in triumph 
through the streets of Pondicherry ; they had seen the arms 

10 and counsels of Dupleix everywhere successful, while the oppo- 
sition which the authorities of Madras had made to his progress 
had served only to expose their own weakness and to heighten 
his glory. At this moment the valor and genius of an obscure 
English youth suddenly turned the tide of fortune. 

15 Clive was now twenty-five years old. After hesitating for 
some time between a military and a commercial life, he had at 
length been placed in a post which partook of both characters, 
that of commissary to the troops, with the rank of captain. The 
present emergency called forth all his powers. He represented 

20 to his superiors that unless some vigorous efforts were made, 
Trichinopoly would fall, the house of Anaverdy Khan would 
perish, and the French would become the real masters of the 
whole peninsula of India. It was absolutely necessary to strike 
some daring blow. If an attack were made on Arcot, the capital 

25 of the Carnatic, and the favorite residence of the Nabobs, it 
was not impossible that the siege of Trichinopoly would be 
raised. The heads of the English settlement, now thoroughly 
alarmed by the success of Dupleix, and apprehensive that, in 
the event of a new war between France and Great Britain, 

30 Madras would be instantly taken and destroyed, approved of 
Clive's plan, and intrusted the execution of it to himself. The 
young captain was put at the head of two hundred English 
soldiers, and three hundred sepoys armed and disciplined after 
the European fashion. Of the eight officers who commanded 



LORD OLIVE 19 

this little force under him, only two had ever been in action, 
and four of the eight were factors of the Company, whom Clive's 
example had induced to offer their services. The weather was 
stormy; but Clive pushed on, through thunder, lightning, and 
rain, to the gates of Arcot. The garrison, in a panic, evacuated 5 
the fort, and the English entered it without a blow. 

But Clive well knew that he should not be suffered to retain 
undisturbed possession of his conquest. He instantly began to 
collect provisions, to throw up works, and to make preparations 
for sustaining a siege. The garrison, which had fled at his 10 
approach, had now recovered from its dismay, and, having been 
swollen by large reinforcements from the neighborhood to a 
force of three thousand men, encamped close to the town. At 
dead of night Clive marched out of the fort, attacked the camp 
by surprise, slew great numbers, dispersed the rest, and returned 1 5 
to his quarters without having lost a single man. 

The intelligence of these events was soon carried to Chunda 
Sahib, who, with his French allies, was besieging Trichinopoly. 
He immediately detached four thousand men from his camp, 
and sent them to Arcot. They were speedily joined by the 20 
remains of the force which Clive had lately scattered. They 
were further strengthened by two thousand men from Vellore, 
and by a still more important reinforcement of a hundred and 
fifty French soldiers whom Dupleix dispatched from Pondi- 
cherry. The whole of this army, amounting to about ten thou- 25 
sand men, was under the command of Rajah Sahib, son of 
Chunda Sahib. 

Rajah Sahib proceeded to invest the fort of Arcot, which 
seemed quite incapable of sustaining a siege. The walls were 
ruinous, the ditches dry, the ramparts too narrow to admit the 30 
guns, the battlements too low to protect the soldiers. The little 
garrison had been greatly reduced by casualties. It now con- 
sisted of a hundred and twenty Europeans and two hundred 
sepoys. Only four officers were left; the stock of provisions 



20 LORD CLIVE 

was scanty; and the commander, who had to conduct the 
defense under circumstances so discouraging, was a young 
man of five-and-twenty, who had been bred a bookkeeper. 
During fifty days the siege went on. During fifty days the 
5 young captain maintained the defense, with a firmness, vigilance, 
and ability which would have done honor to the oldest marshal 
in Europe. The breach, however, increased day by day. The 
garrison began to feel the pressure of hunger. Under such 
circumstances any troops so scantily provided with officers 

10 might have been expected to show signs of insubordination ; 
and the danger was peculiarly great in a force composed of 
men differing widely from each other in extraction, color, lan- 
guage, manners, and religion. But the devotion of the little 
band to its chief surpassed anything that is related of the 

15 Tenth Legion of Caesar or of the Old Guard of Napoleon. 
The sepoys came to Clive, not to complain of their scanty fare, 
but to propose that all the grain should be given to the Euro- 
peans, who required more nourishment than the natives of Asia. 
The thin gruel, they said, which was strained away from the rice, 

20 would suffice for themselves. History contains no more touch- 
ing instance of military fidelity, or of the influence of a com- 
manding mind. 

An attempt made by the Government of Madras to relieve 
the place had failed. But there was hope from another quarter. 

25 A body of six thousand Mahrattas, half soldiers, half robbers, 
under the command of a chief named Morari Row, had been 
hired to assist Mohammed Ali ; but thinking the French power 
irresistible, and the triumph of Chunda Sahib certain, they had 
hitherto remained inactive on the frontiers of the Carnatic. The 

30 fame of the defense of Arcot roused them from their torpor. 
Morari Row declared that he had never before believed that 
Englishmen could fight, but that he would willingly help them 
since he saw that they had spirit to help themselves. Rajah 
Sahib learned that the Mahrattas were in motion. It was 



LORD CLIVE 21 

necessary for him to be expeditious. He first tried negotiation. 
He offered large bribes to Clive, which were rejected with scorn. 
He vowed that if his proposals were not accepted, he would 
instantly storm the fort and put every man in it to the sword. 
Clive told him in reply, with characteristic haughtiness, that his 5 
father was a usurper, that his army was a rabble, and that he 
would do well to think twice before he sent such poltroons into 
a breach defended by English soldiers. 

Rajah Sahib determined to storm the fort. The day was well 
suited to a bold military enterprise. It was the great Moham- 10 
medan festival which is sacred to the memory of Hosein, the 
son of Ali. The history of Islam contains nothing more touch- 
ing than the event which gave rise to that solemnity. The 
mournful legend relates how the chief of the Fatimites, when 
all his brave followers had perished round him, drank his latest 15 
draft of water, and uttered his latest prayer, how the assas- 
sins carried his head in triumph, how the tyrant smote the life- 
less lips with his staff, and how a few old men recollected with 
tears that they had seen those lips pressed to the lips of the 
Prophet of God. After the lapse of near twelve centuries the 20 
recurrence of this solemn season excites the fiercest and saddest 
emotions in the bosoms of the devout Moslems of India. They 
work themselves up to such agonies of rage and lamentation 
that some, it is said, have given up the ghost from the mere 
effect of mental excitement. They believe that whoever, during 25 
this festival, falls in arms against the infidels, atones by his death 
for all the sins of his life, and passes at once to the garden of 
the Houris. It was at this time that Rajah Sahib determined 
to assault Arcot. Stimulating drugs were employed to aid the 
effect of religious zeal, and the besiegers, drunk with enthusiasm, 30 
drunk with bhang, rushed furiously to the attack. 

Clive had received secret intelligence of the design, had made 
his arrangements, and, exhausted by fatigue, had thrown himself 
on his bed. He was awakened by the alarm, and was instantly 



22 LORD CLIVE 

at his post. The enemy advanced, driving before them elephants 
whose foreheads were armed with iron plates. It was expected 
that the gates would yield to the shock of these living battering- 
rams. But the huge beasts no sooner felt the English musket- 
5 balls than they turned round and rushed furiously away, tramp- 
ling on the multitude which had urged them forward. A raft 
was launched on the water which filled one part of the ditch. 
Clive, perceiving that his gunners at that post did not under- 
stand their business, took the management of a piece of artillery 

10 himself, and cleared the raft in a few minutes. Where the moat 
was dry, the assailants mounted with great boldness ; but they 
were received with a fire so heavy and so well directed that it 
soon quelled the courage even of fanaticism and of intoxication. 
The rear ranks of the English kept the front ranks supplied 

15 with a constant succession of loaded muskets, and every shot 
told on the living mass below. After three desperate onsets, 
the besiegers retired behind the ditch. 

The struggle lasted about an hour. Four hundred of the 
assailants fell. The garrison lost only five or six men. The 

20 besieged passed an anxious night, looking for a renewal of the 
attack. But when day broke, the enemy were no more to be 
seen. They had retired, leaving to the English several guns 
and a large quantity of ammunition. 

The news was received at Fort St. George with transports 

25 of joy and pride. Clive was justly regarded as a man equal to 
any command. Two hundred English soldiers and seven hun- 
dred sepoys were sent to him, and with this force he instantly 
commenced offensive operations. He took the fort of Timery, 
effected a junction with a division of Morari Row's army, and 

30 hastened by forced marches to attack Rajah Sahib, who was at 
the head of about five thousand men, of whom three hundred 
were French. The action was sharp, but Clive gained a com- 
plete victory. The military chest of Rajah Sahib fell into the 
hands of the conquerors. Six hundred sepoys who had served: 



LORD CLIVE 23 

in the enemy's army came over to Clive's quarters and were 
taken into the British service. Conjeveram surrendered without 
a blow. The governor of Arnee deserted Chunda Sahib and 
recognized the title of Mohammed Ali. 

Had the entire direction of the war been intrusted to Clive, 5 
it would probably have been brought to a speedy close. But 
the timidity and incapacity which appeared in all the movements 
of the English, except where he was personally present, pro- 
tracted the struggle. The Mahrattas muttered that his soldiers 
were of a different race from the British whom they found else- 10 
where. The effect of this languor was that in no long time 
Rajah Sahib, at the head of a considerable army, in which were 
four hundred French troops, appeared almost under the guns 
of Fort St. George and laid waste the villas and gardens of the 
gentlemen of the English settlement. But he was again encoun- 1 5 
tered and defeated by Clive. More than a hundred of the French 
were killed or taken, a loss more serious than that of thousands 
of natives. The victorious army marched from the field of battle 
to Fort St. David. On the road lay the City of the Victory of 
Dupleix, and the stately monument which was designed to com- 20 
memorate the triumphs of France in the East. Clive ordered 
both the city and the monument to be razed to the ground. 
He was induced, we believe, to take this step, not by personal 
or national malevolence, but by a just and profound policy. 
The town and its pompous name, the pillar and its vaunting 25 
inscriptions, were among the devices by which Dupleix had laid 
the public mind of India under a spell. This spell it was Clive's 
business to break. The natives had been taught that France 
was confessedly the first power in Europe, and that the English 
did not presume to dispute her supremacy. No measure could 30 
be more effectual for the removing of this delusion than the 
public and solemn demolition of the French trophies. 

The Government of Madras, encouraged by these events, 
determined to send a strong detachment under Clive to 



24 LORD CLIVE 

reenforce the garrison of Trichinopoly. But just at this conjunc- 
ture Major Lawrence arrived from England and assumed the 
chief command. From the waywardness and impatience of con- 
trol which had characterized Clive, both at school and in the 
5 countinghouse, it might have been expected that he would not, 
after such achievements, act with zeal and good humor in a sub- 
ordinate capacity. But Lawrence had early treated him with 
kindness ; and it is bare justice to Clive to say that, proud and 
overbearing as he was, kindness was never thrown away upon 

10 him. He cheerfully placed himself under the orders of his old 
friend and exerted himself as strenuously in the second post 
as he could have done in the first. Lawrence well knew the 
value of such assistance. Though himself gifted with no intel- 
lectual faculty higher than plain good sense, he fully appreciated 

15 the powers of his brilliant coadjutor. Though he had made a 
methodical study of military tactics, and, like all men regularly 
bred to a profession, was disposed to look with disdain on inter- 
lopers, he had yet liberality enough to acknowledge that Clive 
was an exception to common rules. " Some people," he wrote, 

20 " are pleased to term Captain Clive fortunate and lucky ; but, 
in my opinion, from the knowledge I have of the gentleman, 
he deserved and might expect from his conduct everything as it 
fell out ; a man of an undaunted resolution, of a cool temper, 
and of a presence of mind which never left him in the greatest 

25 danger, born a soldier ; for, without a military education of any 
sort, or much conversing with any of the profession, from his 
judgment and good sense he led on an army like an experienced 
officer and a brave soldier, with a prudence that certainly war- 
ranted success." 

30 The French had no commander to oppose to the two friends. 
Dupleix, not inferior in talents for negotiation and intrigue to 
any European who has borne a part in the revolutions of India, 
was not qualified to direct in person military operations. He 
had not been bred a soldier, and had no inclination to become 



LORD CLIVE 25 

one. His enemies accused him of personal cowardice ; and he 
defended himself in a strain worthy of Captain Bobadil. He 
kept away from shot, he said, because silence and tranquillity 
were propitious to his genius, and he found it difficult to pursue 
his meditations amidst the noise of firearms. He was thus 5 
under the necessity of intrusting to others the execution of his 
great warlike designs ; and he bitterly complained that he was 
ill served. He had indeed been assisted by one officer of emi- 
nent merit, the celebrated Bussy. But Bussy had marched north- 
ward with the Nizam and was fully employed in looking after 10 
his own interests and those of France at the court of that prince. 
Among the officers who remained with Dupleix, there was not 
a single man of capacity ; and many of them were boys, at 
whose ignorance and folly the common soldiers laughed. 

The English triumphed everywhere. The besiegers of Trich- 15 
inopoly were themselves besieged and compelled to capitulate. 
Chunda Sahib fell into the hands of the Mahrattas, and was put 
to death, at the instigation probably of his competitor, Moham- 
med Ali. The spirit of Dupleix, however, was unconquerable, 
and his resources inexhaustible. From his employers in Europe 20 
he no longer received help or countenance. They condemned 
his policy. They gave him no pecuniary assistance. They sent 
him for troops only the sweepings of the galleys. Yet still he 
persisted, intrigued, bribed, promised, lavished his private for- 
tune, strained his credit, procured new diplomas from Delhi, 25 
raised up new enemies to the government of Madras on every 
side, and found tools even among the allies of the English Com- 
pany. But all was in vain. Slowly but steadily the power of 
Britain continued to increase, and that of France to decline. 

The health of Clive had never been good during his residence 30 
in India ; and his constitution was now so much impaired that 
he determined to return to England. Before his departure he 
undertook a service of considerable difficulty and performed it 
with his usual vigor and dexterity. The forts of Covelong and 



26 LORD CLIVE 

Chingleput were occupied by French garrisons. It was deter- 
mined to send a force against them. But the only force available 
for this purpose was of such a description that no officer but 
Clive would risk his reputation by commanding it. It consisted 
5 of five hundred newly levied sepoys, and two hundred recruits 
who had just landed from England, and who were the worst 
and lowest wretches that the Company's crimps could pick up 
in the flash houses of London. Clive, ill and exhausted as he 
was, undertook to make an army of this undisciplined rabble, 

10 and marched with them to Covelong. A shot from the fort 
killed one of these extraordinary soldiers ; on which all the rest 
faced about and ran away, and it was with the greatest difficulty 
that Clive rallied them. On another occasion, the noise of a 
gun terrified the sentinels so much that one of them was found, 

15 some hours later, at the bottom of a well. Clive gradually accus- 
tomed them to danger, and, by exposing himself constantly in 
the most perilous situations, shamed them into courage. He 
at length succeeded in forming a respectable force out of his 
unpromising materials. Covelong fell. Clive learned that a 

20 strong detachment was marching to relieve it from Chingleput. 
He took measures to prevent the enemy from learning that they 
were too late, laid an ambuscade for them on the road, killed a 
hundred of them with one fire, took three hundred prisoners, 
pursued the fugitives to the gates of Chingleput, laid siege 

25 instantly to that fastness, reputed one of the strongest in India, 
made a breach, and was on the point of storming when the 
French commandant capitulated and retired with his men. 

Clive returned to Madras victorious, but in a state of health 
which rendered it impossible for him to remain there long. He 

30 married at this time a young lady of the name of Maskelyne, 
sister of the eminent mathematician who long held the post of 
Astronomer Royal. She is described as handsome and accom- 
plished ; and her husband's letters, it is said, contain proofs 
that he was devotedly attached to her. 



LORD CLIVE 27 

Almost immediately after the marriage Clive embarked with 
his bride for England. He returned a very different person 
from the poor slighted boy who had been sent out ten years 
before to seek his fortune. He was only twenty-seven ; yet his 
country already respected him as one of her first soldiers. There 5 
was then general peace in Europe. The Carnatic was the only 
part of the world where the English and French were in arms 
against each other. The vast schemes of Dupleix had excited 
no small uneasiness in the city of London ; and the rapid turn 
of fortune, which was chiefly owing to the courage and talents 10 
of Clive, had been hailed with great delight. The young captain 
was known at the India House by the honorable nickname of 
General Clive, and was toasted by that appellation at the feasts 
of the Directors. On his arrival in England he found himself 
an object of general interest and admiration. The East India 15 
Company thanked him for his services in the warmest terms, 
and bestowed on him a sword set with diamonds. With rare 
delicacy, he refused to receive this token of gratitude unless 
a similar compliment were paid to his friend and commander, 
Lawrence. 20 

It may easily be supposed that Clive was most cordially wel- 
comed home by his family, who were delighted by his success, 
though they seem to have been hardly able to comprehend how 
their naughty idle Bobby had become so great a man. His 
father had been singularly hard of belief. Not until the news 25 
of the defense of Arcot arrived in England was the old gentle- 
man heard to growl out that, after all, the booby had something 
in him. His expressions of approbation became stronger and 
stronger as news arrived of one brilliant exploit after another ; 
and he was at length immoderately fond and proud of his son. 30 

Clive's relations had very substantial reasons for rejoicing at 
his return. Considerable sums of prize money had fallen to his 
share ; and he had brought home a moderate fortune, part of 
which he expended in extricating his father from pecuniary 



28 LORD CLIVE 

difficulties and in redeeming the family estate. The remainder 
he appears to have dissipated in the course of about two years. 
He lived splendidly, dressed gayly even for those times, kept a 
carriage and saddle horses, and, not content with these ways of 
5 getting rid of his money, resorted to the most speedy and effec- 
tual of all modes of evacuation, a contested election followed 
by a petition. 

At the time of the general election of 1754 the Government 
was in a very singular state. There was scarcely any formal 

10 opposition. The Jacobites had been cowed by the issue of the 
last rebellion. The Tory party had fallen into utter contempt. 
It had been deserted by all the men of talents who had belonged 
to it, and had scarcely given a symptom of life during some 
years. The small faction which had been held together by the 

15 influence and promises of Prince Frederic had been dispersed 
by his death. Almost every public man of distinguished talents 
in the kingdom, whatever his early connections might have been, 
was in office, and called himself a Whig. But this extraordinary 
appearance of concord was quite delusive. The administration 

20 itself was distracted by bitter enmities and conflicting preten- 
sions. The chief object of its members was to depress and 
supplant each other. The prime minister, Newcastle, weak, 
timid, jealous, and perfidious, was at once detested and despised 
by some of the most important members of his government, 

25 and- by none more than by Henry Fox, the Secretary at War. 
This able, daring, and ambitious man seized every opportunity 
of crossing the First Lord of the Treasury, from whom he well 
knew that he had little to dread and little to hope ; for New- 
castle was through life equally afraid of breaking with men of 

30 parts and of promoting them. 

Newcastle had set his heart on returning two members for 
St. Michael, one of those wretched Cornish boroughs which 
were swept away by the Reform Act in 1832. He was opposed 
by Lord Sandwich, whose influence had long been paramount 



LORD CLIVE 29 

there; and Fox exerted himself strenuously in Sandwich's behalf. 
Clive, who had been introduced to Fox and very 7 kindly received 
by him, was brought forward on the Sandwich interest and was 
returned. But a petition was presented against the return and 
was backed by the whole influence of the Duke of Newcastle. 5 

The case was heard, according to the usage of that time, 
before a committee of the whole House. Questions respecting 
elections were then considered merely as party questions. 
Judicial impartiality was not even affected. Sir Robert Walpole 
was in the habit of saying openly that in election battles there 10 
ought to be no quarter. On the present occasion the excitement 
was great. The matter really at issue was, not whether Clive 
had been properly or improperly returned, but whether New- 
castle or Fox was to be master of the new House of Commons, 
and consequently first minister. The contest was long and 15 
obstinate, and success seemed to lean sometimes to one side 
and sometimes to the other. Fox put forth all his rare powers 
of debate, beat half the lawyers in the House at their own 
weapons, and carried division after division against the whole 
influence of the Treasury. The committee decided in Give's 20 
favor. But when the resolution was reported to the House, 
things took a different course. The remnant of the Ton- 
Opposition, contemptible as it was. had yet sufficient weight 
to turn the scale between the nicely balanced parties of New- 
castle and Fox. Newcastle the Tories could only despise. Fox 25 
they hated, as the boldest and most subtle politician and the 
ablest debater among the Whigs, as the steady friend of Walpole, 
as the devoted adherent of the Duke of Cumberland. After 
wavering till the last moment, they determined to vote in a 
body with the Prime Minister's friends. The consequence was 30 
that the House, by a small majority, rescinded the decision of 
the committee, and Clive was unseated. 

Ejected from Parliament and straitened in his means, he 
naturally began to look again towards India. The Company 



30 LORD CLIVE 

and the Government were eager to avail themselves, of his 
services. A treaty favorable to England had indeed been con- 
cluded in the Carnatic. Dupleix had been superseded and had 
returned with the wreck of his immense fortune to Europe, 
5 where calumny and chicanery soon hunted him to his grave. 
But many signs indicated that a war between France and Great 
Britain was at hand ; and it was therefore thought desirable to 
send an able commander to the Company's settlements in India. 
The Directors appointed Clive governor of Fort St. David. The 

10 King gave him the commission of a lieutenant colonel in the 
British army, and in 1755 he again sailed for Asia. 

The first service on which he was employed after his return 
to the East was the reduction of the stronghold of Gheriah. 
This fortress, built on a craggy promontory, and almost sur- 

15 rounded by the ocean, was the den of a pirate named Angria, 
whose barks had long been the terror of the Arabian Gulf. 
Admiral Watson, who commanded the English squadron in the 
Eastern seas, burned Angria's fleet, while Clive attacked the 
fastness by land. The place soon fell, and a booty of a hun- 

20 dred and fifty thousand pounds sterling was divided among the 
conquerors. 

After this exploit Clive proceeded to his government of Fort 
St. David. Before he had been there two months he received 
intelligence which called forth all the energy of his bold and 

25 active mind. 

Of the provinces which had been subject to the house of 
Tamerlane, the wealthiest was Bengal. No part of India pos- 
sessed such natural advantages, both for agriculture and for 
commerce. The Ganges, rushing through a hundred channels 

30 to the sea, has formed a vast plain of rich mold, which, even 
under the tropical sky, rivals the verdure of an English April. 
The rice fields yield an increase such as is elsewhere unknown. 
Spices, sugar, vegetable oils, are produced with marvelous exu- 
berance. The rivers afford an inexhaustible supply of fish. The 



LORD CLIVE 31 

desolate islands along the seacoast, overgrown by noxious vege- 
tation and swarming with deer and tigers, supply the cultivated 
districts with abundance of salt. The great stream which ferti- 
lizes the soil is, at the same time, the chief highway of Eastern 
commerce. On its banks, and on those of its tributary waters, 5 
are the wealthiest marts, the most splendid capitals, and the 
most sacred shrines of India. The tyranny of man had for 
ages struggled in vain against the overflowing bounty of nature. 
In spite of the Mussulman despot "and of the Mahratta free- 
booter, Bengal was known through the East as the garden of 10 
Eden, as the rich kingdom. Its population multiplied exceed- 
ingly. Distant provinces were nourished from the overflowing 
of its granaries ; and the noble ladies of London and Paris were 
clothed in the delicate produce of its looms. The race by whom 
this rich tract was peopled, enervated by a soft climate and 15 
accustomed to peaceful avocations, bore the same relation to 
other Asiatics which the Asiatics generally bear to the bold and 
energetic children of Europe. The Castilians have a proverb 
that in Valencia the earth is water and the men women ; and 
the description is at least equally applicable to the vast plain of 20 
the Lower Ganges. Whatever the Bengalee does he does lan- 
guidly. His favorite pursuits are sedentary. He shrinks from 
bodily exertion ; and, though voluble in dispute, and singularly 
pertinacious in the war of chicane, he seldom engages in a per- 
sonal conflict and scarcely ever enlists as a soldier. We doubt 25 
whether there be a hundred genuine Bengalese in the whole 
army of the East India Company. There never, perhaps, 
existed a people so thoroughly fitted by nature and by habit 
for a foreign yoke. 

The great commercial companies of Europe had long pos- 30 
sessed factories in Bengal. The French were settled, as they 
still are, at Chandernagore on the Hoogley. Higher up the stream 
the Dutch traders held Chinsurah. Nearer to the sea the Eng- 
lish had built Fort William. A church and ample warehouses 



32 LORD CLIVE 

rose in the vicinity. A row of spacious houses, belonging to 
the chief factors of the East India Company, lined the banks 
of the river ; and in the neighborhood had sprung up a large 
and busy native town, where some Hindoo merchants of great 
5 opulence had fixed their abode. But the tract now covered by 
the palaces of Chowringhee contained only a few miserable huts 
thatched with straw. A jungle, abandoned to waterfowl and 
alligators, covered the site of the present Citadel and the 
Course, which is now daily crowded at sunset with the gayest 

10 equipages of Calcutta. For the ground on which the settlement 
stood, the English, like other great landholders, paid rent to the 
Government ; and they were, like other great landholders, per- 
mitted to exercise a certain jurisdiction within their domain. 
The great province of Bengal, together with Orissa and Bahar, 

15 had long been governed by a viceroy, whom the English called 
Aliverdy Khan, and who, like the other viceroys of the Mogul, 
had become virtually independent. He died in 1756, and the 
sovereignty descended to his grandson, a youth under twenty 
years of age, who bore the name of Surajah Dowlah. Oriental 

20 despots are perhaps the worst class of human beings ; and this 
unhappy boy was one of the worst specimens of his class. His 
understanding was naturally feeble, and his temper naturally 
unamiable. His education had been such as would have ener- 
vated even a vigorous intellect and perverted even a generous 

25 disposition. He was unreasonable, because nobody ever dared 
to reason with him ; and selfish, because he had never been 
made to feel himself dependent on the good will of others. Early 
debauchery had unnerved his body and his mind. He indulged 
immoderately in the use of ardent spirits, which inflamed his 

30 weak brain almost to madness. His chosen companions were 
flatterers, sprung from the dregs of the people, and recom- 
mended by nothing but buffoonery and servility. It is said that 
he had arrived at that last stage of human depravity, when 
cruelty becomes pleasing for its own sake, — when the sight of 



LORD CLIVE 33 

pain as pain, where no advantage is to be gained, no offense 
punished, no danger averted, is an agreeable excitement. It 
had early been his amusement to torture beasts and birds ; and 
when he grew up, he enjoyed with still keener relish the misery 
of his fellow creatures. 5 

From a child Surajah Dowlah had hated the English. It was 
his whim to do so ; and his whims were never opposed. He 
had also formed a very exaggerated notion of the wealth which 
might be obtained by plundering them ; and his feeble and 
uncultivated mind was incapable of perceiving that the riches 10 
of Calcutta, had they been even greater than he imagined, would 
not compensate him for what he must lose, if the European trade, 
of which Bengal was a chief seat, should be driven by his violence 
to some other quarter. Pretexts for a quarrel were readily found. 
The English, in expectation of a war with France, had begun to 1 5 
fortify their settlement without special permission from the Nabob. 
A rich native, whom he longed to plunder, had taken refuge at 
Calcutta, and had not been delivered up. On such grounds as these 
Surajah Dowlah marched with a great army against Fort William. 

The servants of the Company at Madras had been forced by 20 
Dupleix to become statesmen and soldiers. Those in Bengal 
were still mere traders, and were terrified and bewildered by 
the approaching danger. The Governor, who had heard much 
of Surajah Dowlah's cruelty, was frightened out of his wits, 
jumped into a boat, and took refuge in the nearest ship. The 25 
military commandant thought that he could not do better than 
follow so good an example. The fort was taken after a feeble 
resistance ; and great numbers of the English fell into the hands 
of the conquerors. The Nabob seated himself with regal pomp 
in the principal hall of the factory, and ordered Mr. Holwell, 30 
the first in rank among the prisoners, to be brought before 
him. His Highness abused the insolence of the English, and 
grumbled at the smallness of the treasure which he had found ; 
but promised to spare their lives, and retired to rest. 



34 LORD CLIVE 

Then was committed that great crime, memorable for its sin- 
gular atrocity, memorable for the tremendous retribution by 
which it was followed. The English captives were left to the 
mercy of the guards, and the guards determined to secure them 
5 for the night in the prison of the garrison, a chamber known by 
the fearful name of the Black Hole. Even for a single Euro- 
pean malefactor, that dungeon would, in such a climate, have 
been too close and narrow. The space was only twenty feet 
square. The air holes were small and obstructed. It was the 

io summer solstice, the season when the fierce heat of Bengal can 
scarcely be rendered tolerable to natives of England by lofty 
halls and by the constant waving of fans. The number of the 
prisoners was one hundred and forty-six. When they were 
ordered to enter the cell, they imagined that the soldiers were 

15 joking; and, being in high spirits on account of the promise of 
the Nabob to spare their lives, they laughed and jested at the 
absurdity of the notion. They soon discovered their mistake. 
They expostulated ; they entreated ; but in vain. The guards 
threatened to cut down all who hesitated. The captives were 

20 driven into the cell at the point of the sword, and the door was 
instantly shut and locked upon them. 

Nothing in history or fiction, not even the story which Ugolino 
told in the sea of everlasting ice, after he had wiped his bloody 
lips on the scalp of his murderer, approaches the horrors which 

25 were recounted by the few survivors of that night. They cried 
for mercy. They strove to burst the door. Holwell, who ^even 
in that extremity retained some presence of mind, offered large 
bribes to the jailers. But the answer was that nothing could 
be done without the Nabob's orders, that the Nabob was asleep, 

30 and that he would be angry if anybody woke him. Then the 
prisoners went mad with despair. They trampled each other 
down, fought for the places at the windows, fought for the pit- 
tance of water with which the cruel mercy of the murderers 
mocked their agonies, raved, prayed, blasphemed, implored the 



LORD CLIVE 35 

guards to fire among them. The jailers, in the meantime, held 
lights to the bars and shouted with laughter at the frantic strug- 
gles of their victims. At length the tumult died away in low 
gaspings and moanings. The day broke. The Nabob had slept 
off his debauch, and permitted the door to be opened. But it 5 
was some time before the soldiers could make a lane for the 
survivors, by piling up on each side the heaps of corpses on 
which the burning climate had already begun to do its loath- 
some work. When at length a passage was made, twenty-three 
ghastly figures, such as their own mothers would not have 10 
known, staggered one by one out of the charnel house. A pit 
was instantly dug. The dead bodies, a hundred and twenty-three 
in number, were flung into it promiscuously, and covered up. 

But these things, which, after the lapse of more than eighty 
years, cannot be told or read without horror, awakened neither 15 
remorse nor pity in the bosom of the savage Nabob. He in- 
flicted no punishment on the murderers. He showed no tender- 
ness to the survivors. Some of them, indeed, from whom nothing 
was to be got, were suffered to depart ; but those from whom 
it was thought that anything could be extorted were treated 20 
with execrable cruelty. Holwell, unable to walk, was carried 
before the tyrant, who reproached him, threatened him, and 
sent him up the country in irons, together with some other 
gentlemen who were suspected of knowing more than they 
chose to tell about the treasures of the Company. These 25 
persons, still bowed down by the sufferings of that great 
agony, were lodged in miserable sheds, and fed only with 
grain and water, till at length the intercessions of the female 
relations of the Nabob procured their release. One English- 
woman had survived that night. She was placed in the harem 30 
of the Prince at Moorshedabad. 

Surajah Dowlah, in the meantime, sent letters to his nominal 
sovereign at Delhi, describing the late conquest in the most pom- 
pous language. He placed a garrison in Fort William, forbade 



36 LORD CLIVE 

any Englishman to dwell in the neighborhood, and directed that, 
in memory of his great actions, Calcutta should thenceforward 
be called Alinagore, that is to say, the Port of God. 

In August the news of the fall of Calcutta reached Madras, 
5 and excited the fiercest and bitterest resentment. The cry of 
the whole settlement was for vengeance. Within forty-eight 
hours after the arrival of the intelligence it was determined that 
an expedition should be sent to the Hoogley, and that Clive 
should be at the head of the land forces. The naval armament 

10 was under the command of Admiral Watson. Nine hundred 
English infantry, fine troops and full of spirit, and fifteen hun- 
dred sepoys, composed the army which sailed to punish a 
Prince who had more subjects than Louis the Fifteenth or the 
Empress Maria Theresa. In October the expedition sailed; but 

1 5 it had to make its way against adverse winds, and did not reach 
Bengal till December. 

The Nabob was reveling in fancied security at Moorshedabad. 
He was so profoundly ignorant of the state of foreign countries 
that he often used to say that there were not ten thousand men 

20 in all Europe ; and it had never occurred to him as possible, 
that the English would dare to invade his dominions. But, 
though undisturbed by any fear of their military power, he be- 
gan to miss them greatly. His revenues fell off; and his 
ministers succeeded in making him understand that a ruler 

25 may sometimes find it more profitable to protect traders in the 
open enjoyment of their gains than to put them to the torture 
for the purpose of discovering hidden chests of gold and jewels. 
He was already disposed to permit the Company to resume its 
mercantile operations in his country, when he received the news 

30 that an English armament was in the Hoogley. He instantly 
ordered all his troops to assemble at Moorshedabad, and 
marched towards Calcutta. 

Clive had commenced operations with his usual vigor. He 
took Budgebudge, routed the garrison of Fort William, recovered 



LORD CLIVE 37 

Calcutta, stormed and sacked Hoogley. The Nabob, already dis- 
posed to make some concessions to the English, was confirmed 
in his pacific disposition by these proofs of their power and spirit. 
He accordingly made overtures to the chiefs of the invading 
armament, and offered to restore the factory, and to give com- 5 
pensation to those whom he had despoiled. 

Clive's profession was war ; and he felt that there was some- 
thing discreditable in an accommodation with Surajah Dowlah. 
But his power was limited. A committee, chiefly composed of 
servants of the Company who had fled from Calcutta, had the 10 
principal direction of affairs ; and these persons were eager to 
be restored to their posts and compensated for their losses. 
The Government of Madras, apprised that war had commenced 
in Europe, and apprehensive of an attack from the French, be- 
came impatient for the return of the armament. The promises 15 
of the Nabob were large, the chances of a contest doubtful ; 
and Clive consented to treat, though he expressed his regret 
that things should not be concluded in so glorious a manner as 
he could have wished. 

With this negotiation commences a new chapter in the life 20 
of Clive. Hitherto he had been merely a soldier, carrying into 
effect, with eminent ability and valor, the plans of others. 
Henceforth he is to be chiefly regarded as a statesman; and 
his military movements are to be considered as subordinate to 
his political designs. That in his new capacity he displayed 25 
great talents, and obtained great success, is unquestionable. 
But it is also unquestionable, that the transactions in which he 
now began to take a part have left a stain on his moral 
character. 

We can by no means agree with Sir John Malcolm, who is 30 
obstinately resolved to see nothing but honor and integrity in 
the conduct of his hero. But we can as little agree with Mr. 
Mill, who has gone so far as to say that Clive was a man " to 
whom deception, when it suited his purpose, never cost a pang." 



38 LORD CLIVE 

Clive seems to us to have been constitutionally the very opposite 
of a knave, bold even to temerity, sincere even to indiscretion, 
hearty in friendship, open in enmity. Neither in his private life, 
nor in those parts of his public life in which he had to do with 
5 his countrymen, do we find any signs of a propensity to cunning. 
On the contrary, in all the disputes in which he was engaged as 
an Englishman against Englishmen, from his boxing matches at 
school to those stormy altercations at the India House and in 
Parliament, amidst which his later years were passed, his very 

10 faults were those of a high and magnanimous spirit. The truth 
seems to have been that he considered Oriental politics as a 
game in which nothing was unfair. He knew that the standard 
of morality among the natives of India differed widely from that 
established in England. He knew that he had to deal with men 

1 5 destitute of what in Europe is called honor, with men who would 
give any promise without hesitation, and break any promise 
without shame, with men who would unscrupulously employ 
corruption, perjury, forgery, to compass their ends. His letters 
show that the great difference between Asiatic and European 

20 morality was constantly in his thoughts. He seems to have 
imagined, most erroneously in our opinion, that he could effect 
nothing against such adversaries, if he was content to be bound 
by ties from which they were free ; if he went on telling truth 
and hearing none ; if he fulfilled, to his own hurt, all his engage- 

25 ments with confederates who never kept an engagement that 
was not to their advantage. Accordingly this man, in the other 
parts of his life an honorable English gentleman and a soldier, 
was no sooner matched against an Indian intriguer than he be- 
came himself an Indian intriguer, and descended without scruple 

30 to falsehood, to hypocritical caresses, to the substitution of docu- 
ments, and to the counterfeiting of hands. 

The negotiations between the English and the Nabob were 
carried on chiefly by two agents, Mr. Watts, a servant of the 
Company, and a Bengalee of the name of Omichund. This 



LORD CLIVE 39 

Omichund had been one of the wealthiest native merchants 
resident at Calcutta, and had sustained great losses in conse- 
quence of the Nabob's expedition against that place. In the 
course of his commercial transactions he had seen much of the 
English, and was peculiarly qualified to serve as a medium of 5 
communication between them and a native court. He possessed 
great influence with his own race, and had in large measure 
the Hindoo talents, — quick observation, tact, dexterity, per- 
severance ; and the Hindoo vices, — servility, greediness, and 
treachery. 10 

The Nabob behaved with all the faithlessness of an Indian 
statesman, and with all the levity of a boy whose mind had been 
enfeebled by power and self-indulgence. He promised, retracted, 
hesitated, evaded. At one time he advanced with his army in a 
threatening manner towards Calcutta; but when he saw the 15 
resolute front which the English presented, he fell back in 
alarm, and consented to make peace with them on their own 
terms. The treaty was no sooner concluded than he formed 
new designs against them. He intrigued with the French 
authorities at Chandernagore. He invited Bussy to march 20 
from the Deccan to the Hoogley, and to drive the English out 
of Bengal. All this was well known to Clive and Watson. 
They determined accordingly to strike a decisive blow, and to 
attack Chandernagore, before the force there could be strength- 
ened by new arrivals, either from the south of India or from 25 
Europe. Watson directed the expedition by water, Clive by 
land. The success of the combined movements was rapid and 
complete. The fort, the garrison, the artillery, the military 
stores, all fell into the hands of the English. Near five hun- 
dred European troops were among the prisoners. 30 

The Nabob had feared and hated the English, even while 
he was still able to oppose to them their French rivals. The 
French were now vanquished ; and he began to regard the 
English with still greater fear and still greater hatred. His 



40 LORD CLIVE 

weak and unprincipled mind oscillated between servility and 
insolence. One day he sent a large sum to Calcutta, as part 
of the compensation due for the wrongs which he had com- 
mitted. The next day he sent a present of jewels to Bussy, 
5 exhorting that distinguished officer to hasten to protect Bengal 
" against Clive, the daring in war, on whom," says his High- 
ness, " may all bad fortune attend." He ordered his army to 
march against the English. He countermanded his orders. 
He tore Clive's letters. He then sent answers in the most 

10 florid language of compliment. He ordered Watts out of his 
presence, and threatened to impale him. He again sent for 
Watts, and begged pardon for the insult. In the meantime 
his wretched maladministration, his folly, his dissolute manners, 
and his love of the lowest company had disgusted all classes of 

15 his subjects, — soldiers, traders, civil functionaries, the proud and 
ostentatious Mohammedans, the timid, supple, and parsimonious 
Hindoos. A formidable confederacy was formed against him, 
in which were included Roydullub, the minister of finance, Meer 
Jaffier, the principal commander of the troops, and Jugget Seit, 

20 the richest banker in India. The plot was confided to the Eng- 
lish agents, and a communication was opened between the mal- 
contents at Moorshedabad and the committee at Calcutta. 

/ In the committee there was much hesitation; but Clive's 
voice was given in favor of the conspirators, and his vigor and 

25 firmness bore down all opposition. It was determined that the 
English should lend their powerful assistance to depose Surajah 
Dowlah, and to place Meer Jaffier on the throne of Bengal. In 
return Meer Jaffier promised ample compensation to the Com- 
pany and its servants, and a liberal donative to the army, the 

30 navy, and the committee. The odious vices of Surajah Dowlah, 
the wrongs which the English had suffered at his hands, the 
dangers to which our trade must have been exposed had he 
continued to reign, appear to us fully to justify the resolution 
of deposing him. But nothing can justify the dissimulation 



LORD CLIVE 41 

which Clive stooped to practice. He wrote to Surajah Dowlah 
in terms so affectionate that they for a time lulled that weak 
prince into perfect security. The same courtier who carried 
this " soothing letter," as Clive calls it, to the Nabob, carried 
to Mr. Watts a letter in the following terms : " Tell Meer 5 
Jaffier to fear nothing. I will join him with five thousand men 
who never turned their backs. Assure him I will march night 
and day to his assistance, and stand by him as long as I have 
a man left." 

It was impossible that a plot which had so many ramifica- 10 
tions should long remain entirely concealed. Enough reached 
the ears of the Nabob to arouse his suspicions. But he was 
soon quieted by the fictions and artifices which the inventive 
genius of Omichund produced with miraculous readiness. All 
was going well ; the plot was nearly ripe when Clive learned 1 5 
that Omichund was likely to play false. The artful Bengalee 
had been promised a liberal compensation for all that he had 
lost at Calcutta. But this would not satisfy him. His services 
had been great. He held the thread of the whole intrigue. By 
one word breathed in the ear of Surajah Dowlah, he could undo 20 
all that he had done. The lives of Watts, of Meer Jaffier, of all 
the conspirators, were at his mercy ; and he determined to take 
advantage of his situation and to make his own terms. He de- 
manded three hundred thousand pounds sterling as the price 
of his secrecy and of his assistance. The committee, incensed 25 
by the treachery and appalled by the danger, knew not what 
course to take. But Clive was more than Omichund's match 
in Omichund's own arts. The man, he said, was a villain. Any 
artifice which would defeat such knavery was justifiable. The 
best course would be to promise what was asked. Omichund 30 
would soon be at their mercy ; and then they might punish him 
by withholding from him not only the bribe which he now de- 
manded, but also the compensation which all the other sufferers 
of Calcutta were to receive. 



42 



LORD CLIVE 



His advice was taken. .But how was the wary and saga- 
cious Hindoo to be deceived? He had demanded that an 
article touching his claims should be inserted in the treaty 
between Meer Jaffier and the English, and he would not be 
5 satisfied unless he saw it with his own eyes. Clive had an 
expedient ready. Two treaties were drawn up, one on white 
paper, the other on red ; the former real, the latter fictitious. In 
the former Omichund's name was not mentioned ; the latter, 
which was to be shown to him, contained a stipulation in his favor. 

10 But another difficulty arose. Admiral Watson had scruples 
about signing the red treaty. Omichund's vigilance and acute- 
ness were such that the absence of so important a name would 
probably awaken his suspicions. But Clive was not a man to 
do anything by halves. We almost blush to write it. He forged 

i s Admiral Watson's name. 

All was now ready for action. Mr. Watts fled secretly from 
Moorshedabad. Clive put his troops in motion, and wrote to 
the Nabob in a tone very different from that of his previous 
letters. He set forth all the wrongs which the British had suf- 

20 fered, offered to submit the points in dispute to the arbitration 
of Meer Jaffier, and concluded by announcing that, as the rains 
were about to set in, he and his men would do themselves the 
honor of waking on his Highness for an answer. 

Surajah Dowlah instantly assembled his whole force, and 

25 marched to encounter the English. It had been agreed that 
Meer Jaffier should separate himself from the Nabob and 
carry over his division to Clive. But, as the decisive moment 
approached, the fears of the conspirator overpowered his ambi- 
tion. Clive had advanced to Cossimbuzar ; the Nabob lay with 

30 a mighty power a few miles off at Plassey ; and still Meer 
Jaffier delayed to fulfill his engagements, and returned evasive 
answers to the earnest remonstrances of the English general. 

Clive was in a painfully anxious situation. He could place no 
confidence in the sincerity or in the courage of his confederate ; 



LORD CLIVE 43 

and whatever confidence he might place in his own military 
talents and in the valor and discipline of his troops, it was 
no light thing to engage an army twenty times as numerous 
as his own. Before him lay a river over which it was easy 
to advance, but over which, if things went ill, not one of his 5 
little band would ever return. On this occasion, for the first 
and for the last time, his dauntless spirit, during a few hours, 
shrank from the fearful responsibility of making a decision. 
He called a council of war. The majority pronounced against 
fighting ; and Clive declared his concurrence with the majority. 10 
Long afterwards he said that he had never called but one 
council of war, and that, if he had taken the advice of that 
council, the British would never have been masters of Bengal. 
But scarcely had the meeting broken up when he was himself 
again. He retired alone under the shade of some trees, and 15 
passed near an hour there in thought. He came back deter- 
mined to put everything to the hazard, and gave orders that all 
should be in readiness for passing the river on the morrow. 

The river was passed ; and at the close of a toilsome day's 
march the army, long after sunset, took up its quarters in a 20 
grove of mango trees near Plassey, within a mile of the enemy. 
Clive was unable to sleep ; he heard, through the whole night, 
the sound of drum's and cymbals from the vast camp of the 
Nabob. It is not strange that even his stout heart should now 
and then have sunk, when he reflected against what odds, and 25 
for what a prize, he was in a few hours to contend. 

Nor was the rest of Surajah Dowlah more peaceful. His 
mind, at once weak and stormy, was distracted by wild and 
horrible apprehensions. Appalled by the greatness and nearness 
of the crisis, distrusting his captains, dreading every one who 30 
approached him, dreading to be left alone, he sat gloomily in 
his tent, haunted, a Greek poet would have said, by the furies 
of those who had cursed him with their last breath in the 
Black Hole. 



44 LORD CLIVE 

The day broke, the day which was to decide the fate of India. 
At sunrise the army of the Nabob, pouring through many open- 
ings from the camp, began to move towards the grove where 
the English lay. Forty thousand infantry, armed with firelocks, 
5 pikes, swords, bows and arrows, covered the plain. They were 
accompanied by fifty pieces of ordnance of the largest size, each 
tugged by a long team of white oxen, and each pushed on from 
behind by an elephant. Some smaller guns, under the direction 
of a few French auxiliaries, were perhaps more formidable. 

10 The cavalry were fifteen thousand, drawn, not from the effemi- 
nate population of Bengal, but from the bolder race which 
inhabits the northern provinces ; and the practiced eye of Clive 
could perceive that both the men and the horses were more 
powerful than those of the Carnatic. The force which he had 

15 to oppose to this great multitude consisted of only three 
thousand men. But of these nearly a thousand were English; 
and all were led by English officers and trained in the English 
discipline. Conspicuous in the ranks of the little army were the 
men of the Thirty-Ninth Regiment, which still bears on its colors, 

20 amidst many honorable additions won under Wellington in Spain 
and Gascony, the name of Plassey, and the proud motto, Primus 
in Indis. 

The battle commenced with a cannonade in which the artillery 
of the Nabob did scarcely any execution, while the few field- 

25 pieces of the English produced great effect. Several of the most 
distinguished officers in Surajah Dowlah's service fell. Disorder 
began to spread through his ranks. His own terror increased 
every moment. One of the conspirators urged on him the 
expediency of retreating. The insidious advice, agreeing as it 

30 did with what his own terrors suggested, was readily received. 
He ordered his army to fall back, and this order decided his fate. 
Clive snatched the moment and ordered his troops to advance. 
The confused and dispirited multitude gave way before the onset 
of disciplined valor. No mob attacked by regular soldiers was 



LORD CLIVE 45 

ever more completely routed. The little band of Frenchmen, 
who alone ventured to confront the English, were swept down 
the stream of fugitives. In an hour the forces of Surajah 
Dowlah were dispersed, never to reassemble. Only five hundred 
of the vanquished were slain, but their camp, their guns, their 5 
baggage, innumerable wagons, innumerable cattle, remained in 
the power of the conquerors. With the loss of twenty-two sol- 
diers killed and fifty wounded, Clive had scattered an army of 
nearly sixty thousand men, and subdued an empire larger and 
more populous than Great Britain. 10 

Meer Jaffier had given no assistance to the English during 
the action. But as soon as he saw that the fate of the day was 
decided, he drew off his division of the army, and when the 
battle was over sent his congratulations to his ally. The next 
morning he repaired to the English quarters, not a little uneasy 15 
as to the reception which awaited him there. He gave evident 
signs of alarm when a guard was drawn out to receive him with 
the honors due to his rank. But his apprehensions were 
speedily removed. Clive came forward to meet him, embraced 
him, saluted him as Nabob of the three great provinces of 20 
Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa, listened graciously to his apologies, 
and advised him to march without delay to Moorshedabad. 

Surajah Dowlah had fled from the field of battle with all the 
speed with which a fleet camel could carry him, and arrived at 
Moorshedabad in little more than twenty-four hours. There he 25 
called his councilors round him. The wisest advised him to put 
himself into the hands of the English, from whom he had 
nothing worse to fear than deposition and confinement. But he 
attributed this suggestion to treachery. Others urged him to 
try the chance of war again. He approved the advice and issued 30 
orders accordingly. But he wanted spirit to adhere, even during 
one day, to a manly resolution. He learned that Meer Jaffier 
had arrived, and his terrors became insupportable. Disguised 
in a mean dress, with a casket of jewels in his hand, he let 



46 LORD CLIVE 

himself down at night from a window of his palace, and, accom- 
panied by only two attendants, embarked on the river for Patna. 
In a few days Clive arrived at Moorshedabad, escorted by 
two hundred English soldiers and three hundred sepoys. For 
5 his residence had been assigned a palace, which was surrounded 
by a garden so spacious that all the troops who accompanied 
him could conveniently encamp within it. The ceremony of the 
installation of Meer Jaffier was instantly performed. Clive led 
the new Nabob to the seat of honor, placed him on it, presented 

10 to him, after the immemorial fashion of the East, an offering of 
gold, and then, turning to the natives who filled the hall, con- 
gratulated them on the good fortune which had freed them 
from a tyrant. He was compelled on this occasion to use the 
services of an interpreter ; for it is remarkable that, long as he 

15 resided in India, intimately acquainted as he was with Indian 
politics and with the Indian character, and adored as he was by 
his Indian soldiery, he never learned to express himself with 
facility in any Indian language. He is said, indeed, to have been 
sometimes under the necessity of employing, in his intercourse 

20 with natives of India, the smattering of Portuguese which he 
had acquired when a lad in Brazil. 

The new sovereign was now called upon to fulfill the engage- 
ments into which he had entered with his allies. A conference 
was held at the house of Jugget Seit, the great banker, for the 

25 purpose of making the necessary arrangements. Omichund 
came thither, fully believing himself to stand high in the favor 
of Clive, who, with dissimulation surpassing even the dissimula- 
tion of Bengal, had, up to that day, treated him with undimin- 
ished kindness. The white treaty was produced and read. 

30 Clive then turned to Mr. Scrafton, one of the servants of the 
Company, and said in English, " It is now time to undeceive 
Omichund." " Omichund," said Mr. Scrafton in Hindostanee, 
" the red treaty is a trick. You are to have nothing." Omichund 
fell back insensible into the arms of his attendants. He revived ; 



LORD CLIVE 47 

but his mind was irreparably ruined. Clive, who, though little 
troubled by scruples of conscience in his dealings with Indian 
politicians, was not inhuman, seems to have been touched. He 
saw Omichund a few days later, spoke to him kindly, advised 
him to make a pilgrimage to one of the great temples of India, 5 
in the hope that change of scene might restore his health, and 
was even disposed, notwithstanding all that had passed, again 
to employ his talents in the public service. But, from the 
moment of that sudden shock, the unhappy man sank gradually 
into idiocy. He, who had formerly been distinguished by the 10 
strength of his understanding and the simplicity of his habits, 
now squandered the remains of his fortune on childish trinkets, 
and loved to exhibit himself dressed in rich garments and hung 
with precious stones. In this abject state he languished a few 
months and then died. 15 

We should not think it necessary to offer any remarks for 
the purpose of directing the judgment of our readers with 
respect to this transaction, had not Sir John Malcolm under- 
taken to defend it in all its parts. He regrets, indeed, that it 
was necessary to employ means so liable to abuse as forgery; 20 
but he will not admit that any blame attaches to those who 
deceived the dece'iver. He thinks that the English were not 
bound to keep faith with one who kept no faith with them, and 
that, if they had fulfilled their engagements with the wily Ben- 
galee, so signal an example of successful treason would have 25 
produced a crowd of imitators. Now we will not discuss this 
point on any rigid principles of morality. Indeed, it is quite 
unnecessary to do so ; for, looking at the question as a ques- 
tion of expediency in the lowest sense of the word, and using 
no arguments -but such as Machiavelli might have employed in 30 
his conferences with Borgia, we are convinced that Clive was 
altogether in the wrong, and that he committed not merely a 
crime but a blunder. That honesty is the best policy is a maxim 
which we firmly believe to be generally correct, even with respect 



48 LORD CLIVE 

to the temporal interests of individuals ; but, with respect to socie- 
ties, the rule is subject to still fewer exceptions, and that, for this 
reason, that the life of societies is longer than the life of indi- 
viduals. It is possible to mention men who have owed great 
5 worldly prosperity to breaches of private faith. But we doubt 
whether it be possible to mention a state which has, on the whole, 
been a gainer by a breach of public faith. The entire history of 
British India is an illustration of the great truth, that it is not 
prudent to oppose perfidy to perfidy, and that the most efficient 

10 weapon with which men can encounter falsehood is truth. Dur- 
ing a long course of years the English rulers of India, sur- 
rounded by allies and enemies whom no engagement could 
bind, have generally acted with sincerity and uprightness ; and 
the event has proved that sincerity and uprightness are wisdom. 

15 English valor and English intelligence have done less to extend 
and to preserve our Oriental empire than English veracity. All 
that we could have gained by imitating the doublings, the eva- 
sions, the fictions, the perjuries which have been employed 
against us, is as nothing, when compared with what we have 

20 gained by being the one power in India on whose word reliance 
can be placed. No oath which superstition can devise, no hos- 
tage, however precious, inspires a hundredth part of the confi- 
dence which is produced by the " yea, yea " and " nay, nay " 
of a British envoy. No fastness, however strong by art or nature, 

25 gives to its inmates a security like that enjoyed by the chief who, 
passing through the territories of powerful and deadly enemies, 
is armed with the British guarantee. The mightiest princes of 
the East can scarcely, by the offer of enormous usury, draw 
forth any portion of the wealth which is concealed under the 

30 hearths of their subjects. The British Government offers little 
more than four per cent ; and avarice hastens to bring forth 
tens of millions of rupees from its most secret repositories. A 
hostile monarch may promise mountains of gold to our sepoys, 
on condition that they will desert the standard of the Company. 



LORD CLIVE 49 

The Company promises only a moderate pension after a long 
service. But every sepoy knows that the promise of the Com- 
pany will be kept ; he knows that if he lives a hundred years, 
his rice and salt are as secure as the salary of the Governor- 
General ; and he knows that there is not another state in India 5 
which would not, in spite of the most solemn vows, leave him 
to die of hunger in a ditch as soon as he had ceased to be useful. 
The greatest advantage which a government can possess is to 
be the one trustworthy government in the midst of governments 
which nobody can trust. This advantage we enjoy in Asia. 10 
Had we acted during the last two generations on the principles 
which Sir John Malcolm appears to have considered as sound ; 
had we, as often as we had to deal with people like Omichund, 
retaliated by lying, and forging, and breaking faith, after their 
fashion, it is our firm belief that no courage or capacity could 15 
have upheld our empire. 

Sir John Malcolm admits that Clive's breach of faith could 
be justified only by the strongest necessity. As we think that 
breach of faith not only unnecessary, but most inexpedient, we 
need hardly say that we altogether condemn it. 20 

Omichund was not the only victim of the revolution. Surajah 
Dowlah was taken a few days after his flight, and was brought 
before Meer Jafner. There he flung himself on the ground in 
convulsions of fear, and with tears and loud cries implored the 
mercy which he had never shown. Meer Jafner hesitated ; but 25 
his son Meeran, a youth of seventeen, who in feebleness of brain 
and savageness of nature greatly resembled the wretched captive, 
was implacable. Surajah Dowlah was led into a secret chamber, 
to which in a short time the ministers of death were sent. In this 
act the English bore no part ; and Meer Jafner understood so 30 
much of their feelings that he thought it necessary to apologize to 
them for having avenged them on their most malignant enemy. 

The shower of wealth now fell copiously on the Company 
and its servants. A sum of eight hundred thousand pounds 



50 LORD CLIVE 

sterling, in coined silver, was sent down the river from Moor- 
shedabad to Fort William. The fleet which conveyed this treas- 
ure consisted of more than a hundred boats, and performed its 
triumphal voyage with flags flying and music playing. Calcutta, 
5 which a few months before had been desolate, was now more 
prosperous than ever. Trade revived, and the signs of afflu- 
ence appeared in every English house. As to Clive, there was 
no limit to his acquisitions but his own moderation. The treas- 
ury of Bengal was thrown open to him. There were piled up, 

10 after the usage of Indian princes, immense masses of coin, 
among which might not seldom be detected the florins and 
bezants with which, before any European ship had turned the 
Cape of Good Hope, the Venetians purchased the stuffs and 
spices of the East. Clive walked between heaps of gold and 

15 silver, crowned with rubies and diamonds, and was at liberty 
to help himself. He accepted between two and three hundred 
thousand pounds. 

._ The pecuniary transactions between Meer Jaffier and Clive 
were sixteen years later condemned by the public voice and 

20 severely criticised in Parliament. They are vehemently defended 
by Sir John Malcolm. The accusers of the victorious general 
represented his gains as the wages of corruption, or as plunder 
extorted at the point of the sword from a helpless ally. The 
biographer, on the other hand, considers these great acquisitions 

25 as free gifts, honorable alike to the donor and to the receiver, 
and compares them to the rewards bestowed by foreign powers 
on Marlborough, on Nelson, and on Wellington. It had always, 
he says, been customary in the East to give and receive presents ; 
and there was, as yet, no Act of Parliament positively prohibit- 

30 ing English functionaries in India from profiting by this Asiatic 
usage. This reasoning, we own, does not quite satisfy us. We 
do not suspect Clive of selling the interests of his employers 
or his country ; but we cannot acquit him of having done what, 
if not in itself evil, was yet of evil example. Nothing is more 



LORD CLIVE 51 

clear than that a general ought to be the servant of his own 
government, and of no other. It follows that whatever rewards 
he receives for his services ought to be given either by his own 
government, or with the full knowledge and approbation of his 
own government. This rule ought to be strictly maintained even 5 
with respect to the merest bauble, with respect to a cross, a 
medal, or a yard of colored ribbon. But how can any govern- 
ment be well served, if those who command its forces are at 
liberty, without its permission, without its privity, to accept 
princely fortunes from its allies? It is idle to say that there 10 
was then no Act of Parliament prohibiting the practice of tak- 
ing presents from Asiatic sovereigns. It is not on the Act 
which was passed at a later period for the purpose of prevent- 
ing any such taking of presents, but on grounds which were 
valid before that Act was passed, on grounds of common law 15 
and common sense, that we arraign the conduct of Clive. 
There is no Act that we know of, prohibiting the Secretary 
of State for Foreign Affairs from being in the pay of con- 
tinental powers. But it is not the less true that a Secretary 
who should receive a secret pension from France would grossly 20 
violate his duty and would deserve severe punishment. Sir 
John Malcolm compares the conduct of Clive with that of the 
Duke of Wellington. Suppose — and we beg pardon for put- 
ting such a supposition even for the sake of argument — that 
the Duke of Wellington had, after the campaign of 18 15, and 25 
while he commanded the army of occupation in France, pri- 
vately accepted two hundred thousand pounds from Louis the 
Eighteenth, as a mark of gratitude for the great services which 
his Grace had rendered to the house of Bourbon ; what would 
be thought of such a transaction ? Yet the statute book no 30 
more forbids the taking of presents in Europe now than it 
forbade the taking of presents in Asia then. 

At the same time it must be admitted that, in Clive's case, 
there were many extenuating circumstances. He considered 



52 LORD CLIVE 

himself as the general not of the Crown but of the Company. 
The Company had, by implication at least, authorized its agents 
to enrich themselves by means of the liberality of the native 
princes, and by other means still more objectionable. It was 
5 hardly to be expected that the servant should entertain stricter 
notions of his duty than were entertained by his masters. 
Though Clive did hot distinctly acquaint his employers with 
what had taken place, and request their sanction, he did not, 
on the other hand, by studied concealment, show that he was 

10 conscious of having done wrong. On the contrary, he avowed 
with the greatest openness that the Nabob's bounty had raised 
him to affluence. Lastly, though we think that he ought not in 
such a way to have taken anything, we must admit that he de- 
serves praise for having taken so little. He accepted twenty 

15 lacs of rupees. It would have cost him only a word to make 
the twenty forty. It was a very easy exercise of virtue to de- 
claim in England against Clive 's rapacity ; but not one in a 
hundred of his accusers would have shown so much self- 
command in the treasury of Moorshedabad. 

20 Meer Jaffier could be upheld on the throne only by the 
hand which had placed him on it. He was not, indeed, a 
mere boy ; nor had he been so unfortunate as to be born in 
the purple. He was not therefore quite so imbecile or quite so 
depraved as his predecessor had been. But he had none of the 

25 talents or virtues which his post required ; and his son and 
heir, Meeran, was another Surajah Dowlah. The recent revolu- 
tion had unsettled the minds of men. Many chiefs were in 
open insurrection against the new Nabob. The viceroy of the 
rich and powerful province of Oude, who, like the other vice- 

30 roys of the Mogul, was now in truth an independent sovereign, 
menaced Bengal with invasion. Nothing but the talents and 
authority of Clive could support the tottering government. 
While things were in this state a ship arrived with dispatches 
which had been written at the India House before the news of 



LORD CLIVE 53 

the battle of Plassey had reached London. The Directors had 
determined to place the English settlements in Bengal under a 
government constituted in the most cumbrous and absurd 
manner ; and, to make the matter worse, no place in the 
arrangement was assigned to Clive. The persons who were 5 
selected to form this new government, greatly to their honor, 
took on themselves the responsibility of disobeying these pre- 
posterous orders, and invited Clive to exercise the supreme 
authority. He consented ; and it soon appeared that the serv- 
ants of the Company had only anticipated the wishes of their 10 
employers. The Directors, on receiving news of Clive's brilliant 
success, instantly appointed him governor of their possessions 
in Bengal, with the highest marks of gratitude and esteem. 
His power was now boundless, and far surpassed even that 
which Dupleix had attained in the south of India. Meer Jaffier 15 
regarded him with slavish awe. On one occasion the Nabob 
spoke with severity to a native chief of high rank, whose fol- 
lowers had been engaged in a brawl with some of the Com- 
pany's sepoys. " Are you yet to learn," he said, " who that 
Colonel Clive is, and in what station God has placed him ? " 20 
The chief, who, as a famous jester and an old friend of Meer 
Jaffier, could venture to take liberties, answered : " I affront the 
Colonel ! I, who never get up in the morning without making 
three low bows to his jackass ! " This was hardly an exaggera- 
tion. Europeans and natives were alike at Clive's feet. The 25 
English regarded him as the only man who could force Meer 
Jaffier to keep his engagements with them. Meer Jaffier re- 
garded him as the only man who could protect the new dynasty 
against turbulent subjects and encroaching neighbors. 

It is but justice to say that Clive used his power ably and 30 
vigorously for the advantage of his country. He sent forth an 
expedition against the tract lying to the north of the Carnatic. 
In this tract the French still had the ascendancy, and it was 
important to dislodge ' them. The conduct of the enterprise 



54 LORD CLIVE 

was intrusted to an officer of the name of Forde, who was 
then little known, but in whom the keen eye of the Governor 
had detected military talents of a high order. The success of 
the expedition was rapid and splendid. 
5 While a considerable part of the army of Bengal was thus 
engaged at a distance, a new and formidable danger menaced 
the western frontier. The Great Mogul was a prisoner at 
Delhi in the hands of a subject. His eldest son, named 
Shah Alum, destined to be, during many years, the sport of 

10 adverse fortune, and to be a tool in the hands first of the 
Mahrattas and then of the English, had fled from the palace 
of his father. His birth was still revered in India. Some 
powerful princes, the Nabob of Oude in particular, were in- 
clined to favor him. Shah Alum found it easy to draw to his 

1 5 standard great numbers of the military adventurers with whom 
every part of the country swarmed. An army of forty thou- 
sand men, of various races and religions, Mahrattas, Rohillas, 
Jauts, and Afghans, was speedily assembled round him; and 
he formed the design of overthrowing the upstart whom the 

20 English had elevated to a throne, and of establishing his own 
authority throughout Bengal, Orissa, and Bahar. 

Meer Jaffier's terror was extreme ; and the only expedient 
which occurred to him was to purchase, by the payment of a 
large sum of money, an accommodation with Shah Alum. 

25 This expedient had been repeatedly employed by those who, 
before him, had ruled the rich and unwarlike provinces near 
the mouth of the Ganges. But Clive treated the suggestion 
with a scorn worthy of his' strong sense and dauntless courage. 
" ,If you do this," he wrote, " you will have the Nabob of 

30 Oude, the Mahrattas, and many more, come from all parts of 
the confines of your country, who will bully you out of money 
till you have none left in your treasury. I beg your excellency 
will rely on the fidelity of the English, and of those troops 
which are attached to you." He wrote, in a similar strain, to 



LORD CLIVE 55 

the governor of Patna, a brave native soldier whom he highly 
esteemed. " Come to no terms ; defend your city to the last. 
Rest assured that the English are stanch and firm friends, and 
that they never desert a cause in which they have once taken 
a part." 5 

He kept his word. Shah Alum had invested Patna, and was 
on the point of proceeding to storm, when he learned that the 
Colonel was advancing by forced marches. The whole army 
which was approaching consisted of only four hundred and 
fifty Europeans and twenty-five hundred sepoys. But Clive 10 
and his Englishmen were now objects of dread over all the 
East. As soon as his advanced guard appeared, the be- 
siegers fled before him. A few French adventurers who were 
about the person of the prince advised him to try the chance 
of battle ; but in vain. In a few days this great army, which 1 5 
had been regarded with so much uneasiness by the court of 
Moorshedabad, melted away before the mere terror of the 
British name. ' 

The conqueror returned in triumph to Fort William. The 
joy of Meer Jafner was as unbounded as his fears had been, 20 
and led him to bestow on his preserver a princely token of 
gratitude. The quitrent which the East India Company were 
bound to pay to the Nabob for the extensive lands held by 
them to the south of Calcutta amounted to near thirty thou- 
sand pounds sterling a year. The whole of this splendid estate, 25 
sufficient to support with dignity the highest rank of the British 
peerage, was now conferred on Clive for life. 

This present we think Clive justified in accepting. It was a 
present which, from its very nature, could be no secret. In 
fact, the Company itself was his tenant, and by its acquies- 30 
cence signified its approbation of Meer Jafner's grant. 

But the gratitude of Meer Jafner did not last long. He had 
for some time felt that the powerful ally who had set him up 
might pull him down, and had been looking round for support 



56 LORD CLIVE 

against the formidable strength by which he had himself been 
hitherto supported. He knew that it would be impossible to 
find among the natives of India any force which would look 
the Colonel's little army in the face. The French power in 
5 Bengal was extinct. But the fame of the Dutch had anciently 
been great in the Eastern seas ; and it was not yet distinctly 
known in Asia how much the power of Holland had declined 
in Europe. Secret communications passed between the court 
of Moorshedabad and the Dutch factory at Chinsurah; and 

10 urgent letters were sent from Chinsurah, exhorting the Govern- 
ment of Batavia to fit out an expedition which might balance 
the power of the English in Bengal. The authorities of Batavia, 
eager to extend the influence of their country, and still more 
eager to obtain for themselves a share of the wealth which 

15 had recently raised so many English adventurers to opulence, 
equipped a powerful armament. Seven large ships from Java 
arrived unexpectedly in the Hoogley. The military force on 
board amounted to fifteen hundred men, of whom about one 
half were Europeans. The enterprise was well timed. Clive 

20 had sent such large detachments to oppose the French in the 
Carnatic that his army was now inferior in number to that of 
the Dutch. He knew that Meer Jaffier secretly favored the 
invaders. He knew that he took on himself a serious re- 
sponsibility if he attacked the forces of a friendly power ; that 

25 the English ministers could not wish to see a war with Holland 
added to that in which they were already engaged with France ; 
that they might disavow his acts ; that they might punish him. 
He had recently remitted a great part of his fortune to Europe, 
through the Dutch East India Company ; and he had there- 

30 fore a strong interest in avoiding any quarrel. But he was 
satisfied that if he suffered the Batavian armament to pass up 
the river and to join the garrison of Chinsurah, Meer Jaffier 
would throw himself into the arms of these new allies, and 
that the English ascendancy in Bengal would be exposed to 



LORD CLIVE 57 

most serious danger. He took his resolution with characteristic 
boldness, and was most ably seconded by his officers, particularly 
by Colonel Forde, to whom the most important part of the 
operations was intrusted. The Dutch attempted to force a 
passage. The English encountered them both by land and 5 
water. On both elements the enemy had a great superiority 
of force. On both they were signally defeated. Their ships 
were taken. Their troops were put to a total rout. Almost 
all the European soldiers, who constituted the main strength 
of the invading army, were killed or taken. The conquerors 10 
sat down before Chinsurah, and the chiefs of that settlement, 
now thoroughly humbled, consented to the terms which Clive 
dictated. They engaged to build no fortifications, and to raise 
no troops beyond a small force necessary for the police of 
their factories ; and it was distinctly provided that any viola- 1 5 
tion of these covenants should be punished with instant ex- 
pulsion from Bengal. 

Three months after this great victory Clive sailed for Eng- 
land. At home honors and rewards awaited him, not indeed 
equal to his claims or to his ambition, but still such as, when 20 
his age, his rank in the army, and his original place in society 
are considered, must be pronounced rare and splendid. He 
was raised to the Irish peerage and encouraged to expect an 
English title. George the Third, who had just ascended the 
throne, received him with great distinction. The ministers paid 25 
him marked attention ; and Pitt, whose influence in the House 
of Commons and in the country was unbounded, was eager to 
mark his regard for one whose exploits had contributed so 
much to the luster of that memorable period. The great orator 
had already in Parliament described Clive as a heaven-born 30 
general, as a man who, bred to the labor of the desk, had dis- 
played a military genius which might excite the admiration of 
the King of Prussia. There were then no reporters in the 
gallery ; but these words, emphatically spoken by the first 



58 LORD CLIVE 

statesman of the age, had passed from mouth to mouth, had 
been transmitted to Clive in Bengal, and had greatly delighted 
and nattered him. Indeed, since the death of Wolfe, Clive was 
the only English general of whom his countrymen had much 
5 reason to be proud. The Duke of Cumberland had been 
generally unfortunate ; and his single victory, having been 
gained over his countrymen, and used with merciless severity, 
had been more fatal to his popularity than his many defeats. 
Conway, versed in the learning of his profession and personally 

10 courageous, wanted vigor and capacity. Granby, honest, gener- 
ous, and as brave as a lion, had neither science nor genius. 
Sackville, inferior in knowledge and abilities to none of his con- 
temporaries, had incurred, unjustly as we believe, the imputa- 
tion most fatal to the character of a soldier. It was under the 

15 command of a foreign general that the British had triumphed 
at Minden and Warburg. The people, therefore, as was natural, 
greeted with pride and delight a captain of their own, whose 
native courage and self-taught skill had placed him on a level 
with the great tacticians of Germany. 

20 The wealth of Clive was such as enabled him to vie with 
the first grandees of England. There remains proof that he 
had remitted more than a hundred and eighty thousand pounds 
through the Dutch East India Company, and more than forty 
thousand pounds through the English Company. The amount 

25 which he had sent home through private houses was also con- 
siderable. He had invested great sums in jewels, then a very 
common mode of remittance from India. His purchases of 
diamonds, at Madras alone, amounted to twenty-five thousand 
pounds. Besides a great mass of ready money, he had his 

30 Indian estate, valued by himself at twenty-seven thousand a 
year. His whole annual income, in the opinion of Sir John 
Malcolm, who is desirous to state it as low as possible, ex- 
ceeded forty thousand pounds ; and incomes of forty thousand 
pounds at the time of the accession of George the Third were 



LORD CLIVE 59 

at least as rare as incomes of a hundred thousand pounds now. 
We may safely affirm that no Englishman who started with 
nothing has ever, in any line of life, created such a fortune at 
the early age of thirty-four. 

It would be unjust not to add that Clive made a creditable 5 
use of his riches. As soon as the battle of Plassey had laid the 
foundation of his fortune, he sent ten thousand pounds to his 
sisters, bestowed as much more on other poor friends and rela- 
tions, ordered his agent to pay eight hundred a year to his parents, 
and to insist that they should keep a carriage, and settled five 10 
hundred a year on his old commander Lawrence, whose means 
were very slender. The whole sum which Clive expended in this 
manner may be calculated at fifty thousand pounds. 

He now set himself to cultivate parliamentary interest. 
His purchases of land seem to have been made in a great 15 
measure with that view, and, after the general election of 
1 761, he found himself in the House of Commons, at the 
head of a body of dependents whose support must have been 
important to any administration. In English politics, how- 
ever, he did not take a prominent part. His first attach- 20 
ments, as we have seen, were to Mr. Fox ; at a later period 
he was attracted by the genius and success of Mr. Pitt; but 
finally he connected himself in the closest manner with George 
Grenville. Early in the session of 1764, when the illegal and 
impolitic persecution of that worthless demagogue Wilkes had 25 
strongly excited the public mind, the town was amused by an 
anecdote, which we' have seen in some unpublished memoirs of 
Horace Walpole. Old Mr. Richard Clive, who, since his son's 
elevation, had been introduced into society for which his former 
habits had not well fitted him, presented himself at the levee. 30 
The King asked him where Lord Clive was. " He will be in 
town very soon," said the old gentleman, loud enough to be 
heard by the whole circle, " and then your Majesty will have 
another vote." 



6o LORD CLIVE 

But in truth all Clive's views were directed towards the 
country in which he had so eminently distinguished himself 
as a soldier and a statesman ; and it was by considerations 
relating to India that his conduct as a public man in England 
5 was regulated. The power of the Company, though an 
anomaly, is in our time, we are firmly persuaded, a beneficial 
anomaly. In the time of Clive it was not merely an anomaly 
but a nuisance. There was no Board of Control. The 
Directors were for the most part mere traders, ignorant of 

10 general politics, ignorant of the peculiarities of the empire 
which had strangely become subject to them. The Court of 
Proprietors, wherever it chose to interfere, was able to have 
its way. That court was more numerous, as well as more 
powerful, than at present ; for then every share of five hun- 

15 dred pounds conferred a vote. The meetings were large, 
stormy, even riotous, the debates indecently virulent. All the 
turbulence of a Westminster election, all the trickery and cor- 
ruption of a Grampound election, disgraced the proceedings of 
this assembly on questions of the most solemn importance. 

20 Fictitious votes were manufactured on a gigantic scale. Clive 
himself laid out a hundred thousand pounds in the purchase of 
stock, which he then divided among nominal proprietors on 
whom he" could depend, and whom he brought down in his 
train to every discussion and every ballot. Others did the 

25 same, though not to quite so enormous an extent. 

The interest taken by the public of England in Indian ques- 
tions was then far greater than at present," and the reason is 
obvious. At present a writer enters the service young; he 
climbs slowly; he is fortunate if, at forty-five, he can return 

30 to his country with an annuity of a thousand a year and with 
savings amounting to thirty thousand pounds. A great quantity 
of wealth is made by English functionaries in India, but no 
single functionary makes a very large fortune, and what is 
made is slowly, hardly, and honestly earned. Only four or five 



LORD CLIVE 6 1 

high political offices are reserved for public men from England. 
The residencies, the secretaryships, the seats in the boards of 
revenue and in the Sudder courts, are all filled by men who 
have given the best years of life to the service of the Com- 
pany ; nor can any talents however splendid or any connec- 5 
tions however powerful obtain these lucrative posts for any 
person who has not entered by the regular door and mounted 
by the regular gradations. Seventy years ago less money was 
brought home from the East than in our time ; but it was 
divided among a very much smaller number of persons, and 10 
immense sums were often accumulated in a few months. Any 
Englishman, whatever his age might be, might hope to be one 
of the lucky emigrants. If he made a good speech in Leaden- 
hall Street, or published a clever pamphlet in defense of the 
chairman, he might be sent out in the Company's service, and 15 
might return in three or four years as rich as Pigot or as Clive. 
Thus the India House was a lottery office, which invited every- 
body to take a chance, and held out ducal fortunes as the 
prizes destined for the lucky few. As soon as it was known 
that there was a part of the world where a lieutenant colonel 20 
had one morning received as a present an estate as large as 
that of the Earl of Bath or the Marquis of Rockingham, and 
where it seemed that such a trifle as ten or twenty thousand 
pounds was to be had by any British functionary for the asking, 
society began to exhibit all the symptoms of the South Sea 25 
year, — a feverish excitement, an ungovernable impatience to 
be rich, a contempt for slow, sure, and moderate gains. 

At the head of the preponderating party in the India House 
had long stood a powerful, able, and ambitious director of the 
name of Sulivan. He had conceived a strong jealousy of Clive, 30 
and remembered with bitterness the audacity with which the 
late governor of Bengal had repeatedly set at nought the 
authority of the distant Directors of the Company. An appar- 
ent reconciliation took place after Clive's arrival, but enmity 



62 LORD CLIVE 

remained deeply rooted in the hearts of both. The whole body 
of Directors was then chosen annually. At the election of 
1763 Clive attempted to break down the power of the dominant 
faction. The contest was carried on with a violence which he 
5 describes as tremendous. Sulivan was victorious and hastened 
to take his revenge. The grant of rent which Clive had re- 
ceived from Meer Jaffier was, in the opinion of the best Eng- 
lish lawyers, valid. It had been made by exactly the same 
authority from which the Company had received their chief 

10 possessions in Bengal, and the Company had long acquiesced 
in it. The Directors, however, most unjustly determined to 
confiscate it, and Clive was forced to file a bill in Chancery 
against them. 

But a great and sudden turn in affairs was at hand. Every 

1 5 ship from Bengal had for some time brought alarming tidings. 
The internal misgovernment of the province had reached such 
a point that it could go no further. What, indeed, was to be 
expected from a body of public servants exposed to temptation 
such that, as Clive once said, flesh and blood could not bear it, 

20 armed with irresistible power, and responsible only to the cor- 
rupt, turbulent, distracted, ill-informed Company, situated at 
such a distance that the average interval between the sending 
of a dispatch and £he receipt of an answer was above a year 
and a half ? Accordingly during the five years which followed 

25 the departure of Clive from Bengal, the misgovernment of the 
English was carried to a point such as seems hardly compatible 
with the very existence of society. The Roman proconsul, who, 
in a year or two, squeezed out of a province the means of rear- 
ing marble palaces and baths on the shores of Campania, of 

30 drinking from amber, of feasting on singing birds, of exhibiting 
armies of gladiators and flocks of camelopards ; the Spanish 
viceroy, who, leaving behind him the curses of Mexico or Lima, 
entered Madrid with a long train of gilded coaches and of 
sumpter horses trapped and shod with silver, were now outdone. 



LORD CLIVE 63 

Cruelty, indeed, properly so called, was not among the vices of 
the servants of the Company ; but cruelty itself could hardly 
have produced greater evils than sprang from their unprincipled 
eagerness to be rich. They pulled down their creature, Meer 
Jaffier. They set up in his place another Nabob, named Meer 5 
Cossim. But Meer Cossim had talents and a will ; and, though 
sufficiently inclined to oppress his subjects himself, he could not 
bear to see them ground to the dust by oppressions which yielded 
him no profit, nay, which destroyed his revenue in its very 
source. The English accordingly pulled down Meer Cossim 10 
and set up Meer Jaffier again ; and Meer Cossim, after reveng- 
ing himself by a massacre surpassing in atrocity that of the 
Black Hole, fled to the dominions of the Nabob of Oude. At 
every one of these revolutions the new prince divided among 
his foreign masters whatever could be scraped together from 15 
the treasury of his fallen predecessor. The immense population 
of his dominions was given up as a prey to those who had 
made him a sovereign and who could unmake him. The 
servants of the Company obtained, not for their employers but 
for themselves, a monopoly of almost the whole internal trade. 20 
They forced the natives to buy dear and to sell cheap. They 
insulted with impunity the tribunals, the police, and the fiscal 
authorities of the country. They covered with their protection 
a set of native dependents who ranged through the provinces, 
spreading desolation and terror wherever they appeared. Every 25 
servant of a British factor was armed with all the power of his 
master ; and his master was armed with all the power of the 
Company. Enormous fortunes were thus rapidly accumulated 
at Calcutta, while thirty millions of human beings were reduced 
to the extremity of wretchedness. They had been accustomed 30 
to live under tyranny, but never under tyranny like this. They 
found the little finger of the Company thicker than the loins of 
Surajah Dowlah. Under their old masters they had at least one 
resource : when the evil became insupportable the people rose 



64 LORD CLIVE 

and pulled down the Government. But the English Government 
was not to be shaken off. That Government, oppressive as the 
most oppressive form of barbarian despotism, was strong with 
all the strength of civilization. It resembled the government of 

5 evil genii rather than the government of human tyrants. Even 
despair could not inspire the soft Bengalee with courage to con- 
front men of English breed, the hereditary nobility of mankind, 
whose skill and valor had so often triumphed in spite of tenfold 
odds. The unhappy race never attempted resistance. Some- 

10 times they submitted in patient misery. Sometimes they fled 
from the white man, as their fathers had been used to fly from 
the Mahratta ; and the palanquin of the English traveler was 
often carried through silent villages and towns, which the report 
of his approach had made desolate. 

15 The foreign lords of Bengal were naturally objects of hatred 
to all the neighboring powers ; and to all the haughty race 
presented a dauntless front. Their armies, everywhere out- 
numbered, were everywhere victorious. A succession of com- 
manders, formed in the school of Clive, still maintained the 

20 fame of their country. " It must be acknowledged," says the 
Mussulman historian of those times, "that this nation's pres- 
ence of mind, firmness of temper, and undaunted bravery are 
past all question. They join the most resolute courage to the 
most cautious prudence ; nor have they their equals in the art 

25 of ranging themselves in battle array and fighting in order. If 
to so many military qualifications they knew how to join the 
arts of government, if they exerted as much ingenuity and 
solicitude in relieving the people of God as they do in what- 
ever concerns their military affairs, no nation in the world 

30 would be preferable to them, or worthier of command. But 
the people under their dominion groan everywhere, and are 
reduced to poverty and distress. O God ! come to the assist- 
ance of thine afflicted servants, and deliver them from the 
oppressions which they suffer." 



LORD CLIVE 65 

It was impossible, however, that even the military establish- 
ment should long continue exempt from the vices which per- 
vaded every other part of the Government. Rapacity, luxury, 
and the spirit of insubordination spread from the civil service 
to the officers of the army, and from the officers to the soldiers. 5 
The evil continued to grow till every mess room became the 
seat of conspiracy and cabal, and till the sepoys could be 
kept in order only by wholesale executions. 

At length the state of things in Bengal began to excite un- 
easiness at home. A succession of revolutions ; a disorganized 10 
administration; the natives pillaged, yet the Company not en- 
riched; every fleet bringing back fortunate adventurers who 
were able to purchase manors and to build stately dwellings, 
yet bringing back also alarming accounts of the financial pros- 
pects of the Government ; war on the frontiers ; disaffection in 1 5 
the army ; the national character disgraced by excesses resem- 
bling those of Verres and Pizarro ; such was the spectacle 
which dismayed those who were conversant with Indian affairs. 
The general cry was that Clive, and Clive alone, could save the 
empire which he had founded. 20 

This feeling manifested itself in the strongest manner at a 
very full General Court of Proprietors. Men of all parties, 
forgetting their feuds and trembling for their dividends, ex- 
claimed that Clive was the man whom the crisis required, 
that the oppressive proceedings which had been adopted re- 25 
specting his estate ought to be dropped, and that he ought 
to be entreated to return to India. 

Clive rose. As to his estate, he said, he would make such 
propositions to the Directors as would, he trusted, lead to an 
amicable settlement. But there was a still greater difficulty. 30 
It was proper to tell them that he never would undertake 
the government of Bengal while his enemy, Sulivan, was chair- 
man of the Company. The tumult was violent. Sulivan could 
scarcely obtain a hearing. An overwhelming majority of the 



66 LORD CLIVE 

assembly was on Clive's side. Sulivan wished to try the result 
of a ballot. But, according to the by-laws of the Company, 
there can be no ballot except on a requisition signed by nine 
proprietors ; and, though hundreds were present, nine persons 
5 could not be found to set their hands to such a requisition. 

Clive was in consequence nominated Governor and Com- 
mander in chief of the British possessions in Bengal. But he 
adhered to his declaration, and refused to enter on his office 
till the event of the next election of Directors should be 

io known. The contest was obstinate ; but Clive triumphed. 
Sulivan, lately absolute master of the India House, was within 
a vote of losing his own seat : and both the chairman and the 
deputy chairman were friends of the new Governor. 

Such were the circumstances under which Lord Clive sailed 

15 for the third and last. time to India. In May, 1765, he reached 
Calcutta ; and he found the whole machine of government even 
more fearfully disorganized than he had anticipated. Meer 
Jaffier, who had some time before lost his eldest son. Meeran, 
had died while Clive was on his voyage out. The English 

20 functionaries at Calcutta had already received from home strict 
orders not to accept presents from the native princes. But, 
eager for gain, and unaccustomed to respect the commands of 
their distant, ignorant, and negligent masters, they again set 
up the throne of Bengal to sale. About one hundred and forty 

25 thousand pounds sterling was distributed among nine of the 
most powerful servants of the Company ; and, in consideration 
of this bribe, an infant son of the deceased Nabob was placed 
on the seat of his father. The news of the ignominious bargain 
met Clive on his arrival. In a private letter written, immediately 

30 after his landing, to an intimate friend, he poured out his feel- 
ings in language which, proceeding from a man so daring, so 
resolute, and so little given to theatrical display of sentiment, 
seems to us singularly touching. " Alas ! " he says, " how is the 
English name sunk ! I could not avoid paying the tribute of a 



LORD CLIVE 67 

few tears to the departed and lost fame of the British nation 
— irrecoverably so, I fear. However, I do declare, by that 
great Being who is the searcher of all hearts, and to whom 
we must be accountable if there be a hereafter, that I am 
come out with a mind superior to all corruption, and that I 5 
am determined to destroy these great and growing evils, or 
perish in the attempt." 

The Council met, and Clive stated to them his full deter- 
mination to make a thorough reform, and to use for that 
purpose the whole of the ample authority, civil and military, 10 
which had been confided to him. Johnstone, one of the boldest 
and worst men in the assembly, made some show of opposi- 
tion. Clive interrupted him, and haughtily demanded whether 
he meant to question the power of the new Government. 
Johnstone was cowed, and disclaimed any such intention. All 15 
the faces round the board grew long and pale; and not 
another syllable of dissent was uttered. 

Clive redeemed his pledge. He remained in India about a 
year and a half; and in that short time effected one of the 
most extensive, difficult, and salutary reforms that ever was 20 
accomplished by any statesman. This was the part of his life 
on which he afterwards looked back with most pride. He had 
it in his power to triple his already splendid fortune ; to con- 
nive at abuses while pretending to remove them ; to conciliate 
the good will of all the English in Bengal, by giving up to their 25 
rapacity a helpless and timid race, who knew not where lay the 
island which sent forth their oppressors, and whose complaints 
had little chance of being heard across fifteen thousand miles 
of ocean. He knew that, if he applied himself in earnest to 
the work of reformation, he should raise every bad passion in 30 
arms against him. He knew how unscrupulous, how implaca- 
ble, would be the hatred of these ravenous adventurers, who, 
having counted on accumulating in a few months fortunes 
sufficient to support peerages, should find all their hopes 



68 LORD CLIVE 

frustrated. But he had chosen the good part ; and he called 
up all the force of his mind for a battle far harder than that 
of Plassey. At first success seemed hopeless ; but soon all 
obstacles began to bend before that iron courage and that 
5 vehement will. The receiving of presents from the natives was 
rigidly prohibited. The private trade of the servants of the 
Company was put down. The whole settlement seemed to be 
set, as one man, against these measures. But the inexorable 
Governor declared that, if he could not find support at Fort 

10 William, he would procure it elsewhere, and sent for some 
civil servants from Madras to assist him in carrying on the 
administration. The most factious of his opponents he turned 
out of their offices. The rest submitted to what was inevitable ; 
and in a very short time all resistance was quelled. 

1 5 But Clive was far too wise a man not to see that the recent 
abuses were partly to be ascribed to a cause which could not 
fail to produce similar abuses as soon as the pressure of his 
strong hand was withdrawn. The Company had followed a 
mistaken policy with respect to the remuneration of its serv- 

20 ants. The salaries were too low to afford even those indulgences 
which are necessary to the health and comfort of Europeans in 
a tropical climate. To lay by a rupee from such scanty pay 
was impossible. It could not be supposed that men of even 
average abilities would consent to pass the best years of life 

25 in exile, under a burning sun, for no other consideration than 
these stinted wages. It had accordingly been understood, from 
a very early period, that the Company's agents were at liberty 
to enrich themselves by their private trade. This practice had 
been seriously injurious to the commercial interests of the 

30 corporation. That very intelligent observer, Sir Thomas Roe, 
in the reign of James the First, strongly urged the Directors to 
apply a remedy to the abuse. " Absolutely prohibit the private 
trade," said he; " for your business will be better done. I know 
this is harsh. Men profess they come not for bare wages. But 



LORD CLIVE 69 

you will take away this plea if you give great wages to their 
content ; and then you know what you part from." 

In spite of this excellent advice, the Company adhered to the 
old system, paid low salaries, and connived at the indirect gains 
of the agents. The pay of a member of Council was only three 5 
hundred pounds a year. Yet it was notorious that such a func- 
tionary could not live in India for less than ten times that sum ; 
and it could not be expected that he would be content to live 
even handsomely in India without laying up something against 
the time of his return to England. This system, before the 10 
conquest of Bengal, might affect the amount of the dividends 
payable to the proprietors, but could do little harm in any other 
way. But the Company was now a ruling body. Its servants 
might still be called factors, junior merchants, senior merchants. 
But they were in truth proconsuls, propraetors, procurators of 15 
extensive regions. They had immense power. Their regular 
pay was universally admitted to be insufficient. They were, by 
the ancient usage of the service and by the implied permission 
of their employers, warranted in enriching themselves by indirect 
means ; and this had been the origin of the frightful oppression 20 
and corruption which had desolated Bengal. Clive saw clearly 
that it was absurd to give men power and to require them to 
live in penury. He justly concluded that no reform could be 
effectual which should not be coupled with a plan for liberally 
remunerating the civil servants of the Company. The Directors, 25 
he knew, were not disposed to sanction any increase of the sala- 
ries out of their own treasury. The only course which remained 
open to the Governor was one which exposed him to much mis- 
representation, but which we think him fully justified in adopt- 
ing. He appropriated to the support of the service the monopoly 30 
of salt, which has formed, down to our own time, a principal 
head of Indian revenue ; and he divided the proceeds according 
to a scale which seems to have been not unreasonably fixed. 
He was irt consequence accused by his enemies, and has been 



yo LORD CLIVE 

accused by historians, of disobeying his instructions, of violating 
his promises, of authorizing that very abuse which it was his 
special mission to destroy, namely, the trade of the Company's 
servants. But every discerning and impartial judge will admit 
5 that there was really nothing in common between the system 
which he set up and that which he was sent to destroy. The 
monopoly of salt had been a source of revenue to the govern- 
ments of India before Clive was born. It continued to be so 
long after his death. The cixil servants were clearly entitled to 

10 a maintenance out of the revenue ; and all that Clive did was 
to charge a particular portion of the revenue with their main- 
tenance. He thus, while he put an end to the practices by 
which gigantic fortunes had been rapidly accumulated, gave 
to every British functionary employed in the East the means 

15 of slowly but surely acquiring a competence. Yet such is the 
injustice of mankind that none of those acts which are the 
real stains of his life has drawn on him so much obloquy as 
this measure, which was in truth a reform necessary to the 
success of all his other reforms. 

20 He had quelled the opposition of the civil service ; that of the 
army was more formidable. Some of the retrenchments which 
had been ordered by the Directors affected the interests of the 
military service ; and a storm arose, such as even Caesar would 
not willingly have faced. It was no light thing to encounter the 

25 resistance of those who held the power of the sword, in a country 
governed only by the sword. Two hundred English officers en- 
gaged in a conspiracy against the Government and determined 
to resign their commissions on the same day, not doubting that 
Clive would grant any terms rather than see the army, on which 

30 alone the British empire in the East rested, left without com- 
manders. They little knew the unconquerable spirit with which 
they had to deal. Clive had still a few officers round his person 
on whom he could rely. He sent to Fort St. George for a fresh 
supply. He gave commissions even to mercantile agents who 



LORD CLIVE 71 

were disposed to support him at this crisis ; and he sent orders 
that every officer who resigned should be instantly brought up 
to Calcutta. The conspirators found that they had miscalculated. 
The Governor was inexorable. The troops were steady. The 
sepoys, over whom Clive had always possessed extraordinary 5 
influence, stood by him with unshaken fidelity. The leaders in 
the plot were arrested, tried, and cashiered. The rest, humbled 
and dispirited, begged to be permitted to withdraw their resig- 
nations. Many of them declared their repentance even with 
tears. The younger offenders Clive treated with lenity. To the 10 
ringleaders he was inflexibly severe ; but his severity was pure 
from all taint of private malevolence. While he sternly upheld 
the just authority of his office, he passed by personal insults and 
injuries with magnanimous disdain. One of the conspirators was 
accused of having planned the assassination of the Governor ; 1 5 
but Clive would not listen to the charge. "The officers," he 
said, " are Englishmen, not assassins." 

While he reformed the civil service and established his author- 
ity over the army, he was equally successful in his foreign policy. 
His landing on Indian ground was the signal for immediate 20 
peace. The Nabob of Oude, with a large army, lay at that 
time on the frontier of Bahar. He had been joined by many 
Afghans and Mahrattas, and there was no small reason to expect 
a general coalition of all the native powers against the English. 
But the name of Clive quelled in an instant all opposition. The 25 
enemy implored peace in the humblest language, and submitted 
to such terms as the new Governor chose to dictate. 

At the same time the Government of Bengal was placed on 
a new footing. The power of the English in that province had 
hitherto been altogether undefined. It was unknown to the 30 
ancient constitution of the empire, and it had been ascertained 
by no compact. It resembled the power which, in the last 
decrepitude of the Western Empire, was exercised over Italy 
by the great chiefs of foreign mercenaries, the Ricimers and 



J2 LORD CLIVE 

the Odoacers, who put up and pulled down at their pleasure a 
succession of insignificant princes, dignified with the names of 
Caesar and Augustus. But as in Italy, so in India, the warlike 
strangers at length found it expedient to give to a domination 
5 which had been established by arms the sanction of law and 
ancient prescription. Theodoric thought it politic to obtain from 
the distant court of Byzantium a commission appointing him 
ruler of Italy ; and Clive, in the same manner, applied to the 
Court of Delhi for a formal grant of the powers of which he 

10 already possessed the reality. The Mogul was absolutely help- 
less, and, though he murmured, had reason to be well pleased 
that the English were disposed to give solid rupees, which he 
never could have extorted from them, in exchange for a few 
Persian characters which cost him nothing. A bargain was 

1 5 speedily struck ; and the titular sovereign of Hindostan issued 
a warrant empowering the Company to collect and administer 
the revenues of Bengal, Orissa, and Bahar. 

There was still a Nabob, who stood to the British authorities 
in the same relation in which the last driveling Chilperics and 

20 Childerics of the Merovingian line stood to their able and vigor- 
ous Mayors of the Palace, to Charles Martel and to Pepin. At 
one time Clive had almost made up his mind to discard this 
phantom altogether ; but he afterwards thought that it might be 
convenient still to use the name of the Nabob, particularly in 

25 dealings with other European nations. The French, the Dutch, 
and the Danes would, he conceived, submit far more readily 
to the authority of the native Prince, whom they had always 
been accustomed to respect, than to that of a rival trading 
corporation. This policy may, at that time, have been judicious. 

30 But the pretense was soon found to be too flimsy to impose on 
anybody; and it was altogether laid aside. The heir of Meer 
Jamer still resides at Moorshedabad, the ancient capital of his 
house, still bears the title of Nabob, is still accosted by the Eng- 
lish as " Your Highness," and is still suffered to retain a portion 



LORD CLIVE 73 

of the regal state which surrounded his ancestors. A pension of 
a hundred and sixty thousand pounds a year is annually paid to 
him by the Government. His carriage is surrounded by guards 
and preceded by attendants with silver maces. His person and 
his dwelling are exempted from the ordinary authority of the 5 
ministers of justice. But he has not the smallest share of politi- 
cal power, and is, in fact, only a noble and wealthy subject of 
the Company. 

It would have been easy for Clive, during his second adminis- 
tration in Bengal, to accumulate riches such as no subject in 10 
Europe possessed. He might indeed, without subjecting the 
rich inhabitants of the province to any pressure beyond that to 
which their mildest rulers had accustomed them, have received 
presents to the amount of three hundred thousand pounds a 
year. The neighboring princes would gladly have paid any 15 
price for his favor. But he appears to have strictly adhered to 
the rules which he had laid down for the guidance of others. 
The Rajah of Benares offered him diamonds of great value. The 
Nabob of Oude pressed him to accept a large sum of money 
and a casket of costly jewels. Clive courteously but peremp- 20 
torily refused ; and it should be observed that he made no merit 
of his refusal, and that the facts did not come to light till after 
his death. He kept an exact account of his salary, of his share 
of the profits accruing from the trade in salt, and of those 
presents which, according to the fashion of the East, it would 25 
be churlish to refuse. Out of the sum arising from these 
resources he defrayed the expenses of his situation. The sur- 
plus he divided among a few attached friends who had accom- 
panied him to India. He always boasted, and, as far as we can 
judge, he boasted with truth, that his last administration dimin- 30 
ished instead of increasing his fortune. 

One large sum indeed he accepted. Meer Jaffier had left him 
by will above sixty thousand pounds sterling in specie and 
jewels ; and the rules which had been recently laid down 



74 LORD CLIVE 

extended only to presents from the living, and did not affect 
legacies" from the dead. Clive took the money, but not for 
himself. He made the whole over to the Company, in trust for 
officers and soldiers invalided in their service. The fund which 
5 still bears his name owes its origin to this princely donation. 
After a stay of eighteen months the state of his health 
made it necessary for him to return to Europe. At the close 
of January, 1767, he quitted for the last time the country on 
whose destinies he had exercised so mighty an influence. 

10 His second return from Bengal was not, like his first, greeted 
by the acclamations of his countrymen. Numerous causes were 
already at work which embittered the remaining years of his 
life and hurried him to an untimely grave. His old enemies at 
the India House were still powerful and active ; and they had 

15 been reenforced by a large band of allies whose violence far 
exceeded their own. The whole crew of pilferers and oppressors 
from whom he had rescued Bengal persecuted him with the 
implacable rancor which belongs to such abject natures. Many 
of them even invested their property in India stock, merely that 

20 they might be better able to annoy the man whose firmness had 
set bounds to their rapacity. Lying newspapers were set up for 
no purpose but to abuse him ; and the temper of the public 
mind was then such, that these arts, which, under ordinary cir- 
cumstances, would have been ineffectual against truth and merit, 

25 produced an extraordinary impression. 

The great events which had taken place in India had called 
into existence a new class of Englishmen, to whom their country- 
men gave the name of Nabobs. These persons had generally 
sprung from families neither ancient nor opulent; they had 

30 generally been sent at an early age to the East ; and they had 
there acquired large fortunes, which they had brought back to 
their native land. It was natural that, not having had much 
opportunity of mixing with the best society, they should exhibit 
some of the awkwardness and some of the pomposity of upstarts. 



LORD CLIVE 75 

It was natural that, during their sojourn in Asia, they should 
have acquired some tastes and habits surprising, if not disgust- 
ing, to persons who never had quitted Europe. It was natural 
that, having enjoyed great consideration in the East, they should 
not be disposed to sink into obscurity at home ; and as they 5 
had money, and had not birth or high connection, it was natural 
that they should display a little obtrusively the single advantage 
•which they possessed. Wherever they settled there was a kind 
of feud between them and the old nobility and gentry, similar 
to that which raged in France between the farmer-general and 10 
the marquis. This enmity to the aristocracy long continued to 
distinguish the servants of the Company. More than twenty 
years after the time of which we are now speaking, Burke pro- 
nounced that among the Jacobins might be reckoned " the East 
Indians almost to a man, who cannot bear to find that their 15 
present importance does not bear a proportion to their wealth." 
The Nabobs soon became a most unpopular class of men. 
Some of them had in the East displayed eminent talents and 
rendered great services to the state ; but at home their talents 
were not shown to advantage and their services were little 20 
known. That they had sprung from obscurity, that they had 
acquired great wealth, that they exhibited it insolently, that 
they spent it extravagantly, that they raised the price of every- 
thing in their neighborhood, from fresh eggs to rotten boroughs, 
that their liveries outshone those of dukes, that their coaches 25 
were finer than that of the Lord Mayor, that the examples of 
their large and ill-governed households corrupted half the serv- 
ants in the country, that some of them, with all their magnifi- 
cence, could not catch the tone of good society, but, in spite of 
the stud and the crowd of menials, of the plate and the Dresden 30 
china, of the venison and the Burgundy, were still low men; 
these were things which excited, both in the class from which 
they had sprung and in the class into which they attempted to 
force themselves, the bitter aversion which is the effect of 



y6 LORD CLIVE 

mingled envy and contempt. But when it was also rumored 
that the fortune which had enabled its possessor to eclipse the 
Lord Lieutenant on the race ground, or to carry the county 
against the head of a house as old as Domesday Book, had 
5 been accumulated by violating public faith, by deposing legiti- 
mate princes, by reducing whole provinces to beggary, all the 
higher and better as well as all the low and evil parts of human 
nature were stirred against the wretch who had obtained by 
guilt and dishonor the riches which he now lavished with arro- 

10 gant and inelegant profusion. The unfortunate Nabob seemed 
to be made up of those foibles against which comedy has 
pointed the most merciless ridicule, and of those crimes which 
have thrown the deepest gloom over tragedy, of Turcaret and 
Nero, of Monsieur Jourdain and Richard the Third. A tempest 

15 of execration and derision, such as can be compared only to 
that outbreak of public feeling against the Puritans which took 
place at the time of the Restoration, burst on the servants of 
the Company. The humane man was horror-struck at the way 
in which they had got their money, the thrifty man at the way 

20 in which they spent it. The dilettante sneered at their want 
of taste. The macaroni black-balled them as vulgar fellows. 
Writers the most unlike in sentiment and style, Methodists 
and libertines, philosophers and buffoons, were for once on 
the same side. It is hardly too much to say that, during a 

25 space of about thirty years, the whole lighter literature of Eng- 
land was colored by the feelings which we have described. 
Foote brought on the stage an Anglo-Indian chief, dissolute, 
ungenerous, and tyrannical, ashamed of the humble friends of 
his youth, hating the aristocracy, yet childishly eager to be 

30 numbered among them, squandering his wealth on panders and 
flatterers, tricking out his chairmen with the most costly hot- 
house flowers, and astounding the ignorant with jargon about 
rupees, lacs, and jaghires. Mackenzie, with more delicate humor, 
depicted a plain country family raised by the Indian acquisitions 



LORD CLIVE 77 

of one of its members to sudden opulence, and exciting derision 
by an awkward mimicry of the manners of the great. Cowper, 
in that lofty expostulation which glows with the very spirit of 
the Hebrew poets, placed the oppression of India foremost in 
the list of those national crimes for which God had punished 5 
England with years of disastrous war, with discomfiture in her 
own seas, and with the loss of her transatlantic empire. If any 
of our readers will take the trouble to search in the dusty re- 
cesses of circulating libraries for some novel published sixty 
years ago, the chance is that the villain or subvillain of the 10 
story will prove to be a savage old Nabob, with an immense 
fortune, a tawny complexion, a bad liver, and a worse heart. 

Such, as far as we can now judge, was the feeling of 
the country respecting Nabobs in general. And Clive was 
eminently the Nabob, the ablest, the most celebrated, the 15 
highest in rank, the highest in fortune, of all the fraternity. 
His wealth was exhibited in a manner which could not fail 
to excite odium. He lived with great magnificence in Berkeley 
Square. He reared one palace in Shropshire and another at 
Claremont. His parliamentary influence might vie with that 20 
of the greatest families. But in all this splendor and power 
envy found something to sneer at. On some of his relations 
wealth and dignity seem to have sat as awkwardly as on 
Mackenzie's Margery Mushroom. Nor was he himself, with 
all his great qualities, free from those weaknesses which the 25 
satirists of that age represented as characteristic of his whole 
class. In the field, indeed, iris habits were remarkably simple. 
He was constantly on horseback, was never seen but in his 
uniform, never wore silk, never entered a palanquin, and was 
content with the plainest fare. But when he was no longer at 30 
the head of an army, he laid aside this Spartan temperance for 
the ostentatious luxury of a Sybarite. Though his person was 
ungraceful, and though his harsh features were redeemed from 
vulgar ugliness only by their stern, dauntless, and commanding 



78 LORD CLIVE 

expression, he was fond of rich and gay clothing, and replen- 
ished his wardrobe with absurd profusion. Sir John Malcolm 
gives us a letter worthy of Sir Matthew Mite, in which Clive 
orders " two hundred shirts, the best and finest that can be got 
5 for love or money." A few follies of this description, grossly 
exaggerated by report, produced an unfavorable impression on 
the public mind. But this was not the worst. Black stories, of 
which the greater part were pure inventions, were circulated 
respecting his conduct in the East. He had to bear the whole 

10 odium not only of those bad acts to which he had once or 
twice stooped, but of all the bad acts of all the English in 
India ; of bad acts committed when he was absent ; nay, of bad 
acts which he had manfully opposed and severely punished. 
^The very abuses against which he had waged an honest, 
5 resolute, and successful war were laid to his account. He 
was, in fact, regarded as the personification of all the vices 
and weaknesses which the public, with or without reason, 
ascribed to the English adventurers in Asia. We have our- 
selves heard old men, who knew nothing of his history, but 

20 who still retained the prejudices conceived in their youth, talk 
of nim as an incarnate fiend. Johnson always held this lan- 
guage. Brown, whom Clive employed to lay out his pleasure 
grounds, was amazed to see in the house of his noble employer 
a chest which had once been filled with gold from the treasury 

25 of Moorshedabad, and could not understand how the conscience 
of the criminal could suffer him to sleep with such an object so 
near to his bedchamber. The peasantry of Surrey looked with 
mysterious horror on the stately house which was rising at 
Claremont, and whispered that the great wicked lord had 

30 ordered the walls to be made so thick in order to keep out 
the devil, who would one day carry him away bodily. Among 
the gaping clowns who drank in this frightful story was a 
worthless ugly lad of the name of Hunter, since widely known 
as William Huntington, S.S. ; and the superstition which was 



LORD CLIVE 79 

strangely mingled with the knavery of that remarkable im- 
postor seems to have derived no small nutriment from the 
tales which he heard of the life and character of Clive. 

In the meantime the impulse which Clive had given to 
the administration of Bengal was constantly becoming fainter 5 
and fainter. His policy was to a great extent abandoned; 
the abuses which he had suppressed began to revive ; and 
at length the evils which a bad government had engendered 
were aggravated by one of those fearful visitations which 
the best government cannot avert. In the summer of 1770 10 
the rains failed ; the earth was parched up ; the tanks were 
empty ; the rivers shrank within their beds ; and a famine, 
such as is known only in countries where every household 
depends for support on its own little patch of cultivation, 
filled the whole valley of the Ganges with misery and death. 15 
Tender and delicate women, whose veils had never been 
lifted before the public gaze, came forth from the inner cham- 
bers in which Eastern jealousy had kept watch over their 
beauty, threw themselves on the earth before the passers-by, 
and, with loud wailings, implored a handful of rice for their 20 
children. The Hoogley every day rolled down thousands of 
corpses close to the porticoes and gardens of the English 
conquerors. The very streets of Calcutta were blocked up 
by the dying and the dead. The lean and feeble survivors 
had not energy enough to bear the bodies of their kindred 25 
to the funeral pile or to the holy river, or even to scare 
away the jackals and vultures, who fed on human remains 
in the face of day. The extent of the mortality was never 
ascertained, but it was popularly reckoned by millions. This 
melancholy intelligence added to the excitement which already 30 
prevailed in England on Indian subjects. The proprietors 
of East India stock were uneasy about their dividends. All 
men of common humanity were touched by the calamities of 
our unhappy subjects ; and indignation soon began to mingle 



8o LORD CLIVE 

itself with pity. It was rumored that the Company's servants 
had created the famine by engrossing all the rice of the 
country ; that they had sold grain for eight, ten, twelve times 
the price at which they had bought it; that one English 
5 functionary who, the year before, was not worth a hundred 
guineas, had, during that season of misery, remitted sixty 
thousand pounds to London. These charges we believe to 
have been unfounded. That servants of the Company had 
ventured, since Clive's departure, to deal in rice, is probable. 

10 That, if they dealt in rice, they must have gained by the 
scarcity, is certain. But there is no reason for thinking that 
they either produced or aggravated an evil which physical 
causes sufficiently explain. The outcry which was raised 
against them on this occasion was, we suspect, as absurd as 

15 the imputations which, in times of dearth at home, were once 
thrown by statesmen and judges, and are still thrown by two 
or three old women, on the corn factors. It was, however, so 
loud and so general that it appears to have imposed even on 
an intellect raised so high above vulgar prejudices as that of 

20 Adam Smith. What was still more extraordinary, these un- 
happy events greatly increased the unpopularity of Lord Clive. 
He had been some years in England when the famine took 
place. None of his measures had the smallest tendency to 
produce such a calamity. If the servants of the Company 

25 had traded in rice, they had done so in direct contravention 
of the rule which he had laid down, and, while in power, had 
resolutely enforced. But, in the eyes of his countrymen, he 
was, as we have said, the Nabob, the Anglo-Indian character 
personified ; and, while he was building and planting in Surrey, 

30 he was held responsible for all the effects of a dry season 
in Bengal. 

Parliament had hitherto bestowed very little attention on 
our Eastern possessions. Since the death of George the 
Second a rapid succession of weak administrations, each of 



LORD CLIVE 8 1 

which was in turn flattered and betrayed by the Court, had 
held the semblance of power. Intrigues in the palace, riots 
in the capital, and insurrectionary movements in the American 
colonies had left the advisers of the Crown little leisure to 
study Indian politics. Where they did interfere, their inter- 5 
ference was feeble and irresolute. Lord Chatham, indeed, 
during the short period of his ascendancy in the councils of 
George the Third, had meditated a bold and sweeping meas- 
ure respecting the acquisitions of the Company. But his plans 
were rendered abortive by the strange malady which about 10 
that time began to overcloud his splendid genius. 

At length, in 1772, it was generally felt that Parliament 
could no longer neglect the affairs of India. The Govern- 
ment was stronger than any which had held power since the 
breach between Mr. Pitt and the great Whig connection in 15 
1 76 1. No pressing question of domestic or European policy 
required the attention of public men. There was a short 
and delusive lull between two tempests. The excitement pro- 
duced by the Middlesex election was over; the discontents of 
America did not yet threaten civil war ; the financial difficulties 20 
of the Company brought on a crisis ; the Ministers were forced 
to take up the subject; and the whole storm, which had long 
been gathering, now broke at once on the head of Clive. 

His situation was indeed singularly unfortunate. He was 
hated throughout the country, hated at the India House, 25 
hated, above all, by those wealthy and powerful servants of 
the Company, whose rapacity and tyranny he had withstood. 
He had to bear the double odium of his bad and of his good 
actions, of every Indian abuse and of every Indian reform. 
The state of the political world was such that he could count 30 
on the support of no powerful connection. The party to which 
he had belonged, that of George Grenville, had been hostile to 
the Government, and yet had never cordially united with the 
other sections of the Opposition, with the little band which 



82 LORD CLIVE 

still followed the fortunes of Lord Chatham, or with the large 
and respectable body of which Lord Rockingham was the 
acknowledged leader. George Grenville was now dead ; his 
followers were scattered ; and Clive, unconnected with any 
5 of the powerful factions which divided the Parliament, could 
reckon only on the votes of those members who were re- 
turned by himself. His enemies, particularly those who were 
the enemies of his virtues, were unscrupulous, ferocious, im- 
placable. Their malevolence aimed at nothing less than the 

io utter ruin of his fame and fortune. They wished to see him 
expelled from Parliament, to see his spurs chopped off, to see 
his estate confiscated ; and it may be doubted whether even 
such a result as this would have quenched their thirst for 
revenge. 

15 Clive's parliamentary tactics resembled his military tactics. 
Deserted, surrounded, outnumbered, and with everything at 
stake, he did not even deign to stand on the defensive, but 
pushed boldly forward to the attack. At an early stage of 
the discussions on Indian affairs he rose, and in a long and 

20 elaborate speech vindicated himself from a large part of the 
accusations which had been brought against him. He is said 
to have produced a great impression on his audience. Lord 
Chatham, who, now the ghost of his former self, loved to 
haunt the scene of his glory, was that night under the gallery 

25 of the House of Commons, and declared that he had never 
heard a finer speech. It was subsequently printed under 
Clive's direction, and, when the fullest allowance has been 
made for the assistance which he may have obtained from 
literary friends, proves him to have possessed not merely 

30 strong sense and a manly spirit, but talents both for disquisi- 
tion and declamation which assiduous culture might have im- 
proved into the highest excellence. He confined his defense 
on this occasion to the measures of his last administration, 
and succeeded so far that his enemies thenceforth thought it 



LORD CLIVE 83 

expedient to direct their attacks chiefly against the earlier part 
of his life. 

The earlier part of his life unfortunately presented some 
assailable points to their hostility. A committee was chosen 
by ballot to inquire into the affairs of India; and by this 5 
committee the whole history of that great revolution which 
threw down Surajah Dowlah and raised Meer Jafner was 
sifted with malignant care. Clive was subjected to the most 
unsparing examination and cross-examination, and afterwards 
bitterly complained that he, the Baron of Plassey, had been 10 
treated like a sheep stealer. The boldness and ingenuousness 
of his replies would alone suffice to show how alien from his 
nature were the frauds to which, in the course of his Eastern 
negotiations, he had sometimes descended. He avowed the 
arts which he had employed to deceive Omichund, and reso- 15 
lutely said that he was not ashamed of them, and that in the 
same circumstances he would again act in the same manner. 
He admitted that he had received immense sums from Meer 
Jafner; but he denied that in doing so he had violated any 
obligation of morality or honor. He laid claim, on the con- 20 
trary, and not without some reason, to the praise of eminent 
disinterestedness. He described in vivid language the situation 
in which his victory had placed him ; a great prince dependent 
on his pleasure ; an opulent city afraid of being given up to 
plunder; wealthy bankers bidding against each other for his 25 
smiles ; vaults piled with gold and jewels thrown open to him 
alone. " By God, Mr. Chairman," he exclaimed, " at this 
moment I stand astonished at my own moderation." 

The inquiry was so extensive that the Houses rose before 
it had been completed. It was continued in the following 30 
session. When at length the committee had concluded its 
labors, enlightened and impartial men had little difficulty in 
making up their minds as to the result. It was clear that 
Clive had been guilty of some acts which it is impossible 



84 LORD CLIVE 

to vindicate without attacking the authority of all the most 
sacred laws which regulate the intercourse of individuals and 
of states. But it was equally clear that he had displayed great 
talents, and even great virtues ; that he had rendered eminent 
5 services both to his country and to the people of India; and 
that it was in truth not for his dealings with Meer Jaffier nor 
for the fraud which he had practiced on Omichund, but for 
his determined resistance to avarice and tyranny, that he was 
now called in question. 

10 Ordinary criminal justice knows nothing of set-off. The 
greatest ^ desert cannot be pleaded in answer to a charge 
of the slightest transgression. If a man has sold beer on 
Sunday morning, it is no defense that he has saved the 
life of a fellow creature at the risk of his own. If he has 

15 harnessed a Newfoundland dog to his little child's carriage, 
it is no defense that he was wounded at Waterloo. But 
it is not in this way that we ought to deal with men who, 
raised far above ordinary restraints, and tried by far more 
than ordinary temptations, are entitled to a more than ordi- 

20 nary measure of indulgence. Such men should be judged 
by their contemporaries as they will be judged by posterity. 
Their bad actions ought not, indeed, to be called good; but 
their good and bad actions ought to be fairly weighed ; and, 
if on the whole the good preponderate, the sentence ought to 

25 be one not merely of acquittal but of approbation. Not a single 
great ruler in history can be absolved by a judge who fixes 
his eye inexorably on one or two unjustifiable acts. Bruce the 
deliverer of Scotland, Maurice the deliverer of Germany, William 
the deliverer of Holland, his great descendant the deliverer of 

30 England, Murray the good regent, Cosmo the father of his 
country, Henry the Fourth of France, Peter the Great of Russia, 
how would the best of them pass such a scrutiny ? History 
takes wider views ; and the best tribunal for great politic 
cases is the tribunal which anticipates the verdict of history. 



LORD CLIVE 85 

Reasonable and moderate men of all parties felt this in 
Clive's case. They could not pronounce him blameless ; but 
they were not disposed to abandon him to that low-minded 
and rancorous pack who had run him down and were eager 
to worry him to death. Lord North, though not very friendly 5 
to him, was not disposed to go to extremities against him. 
While the inquiry was still in progress, Clive, who had some 
years before been created a Knight of the Bath, was installed 
with great pomp in Henry the Seventh's Chapel. He was 
soon after appointed Lord Lieutenant of Shropshire. When 10 
he kissed hands, George the Third, who had always been 
partial to him, admitted him to a private audience, talked to 
him half an hour on Indian politics, and was visibly affected 
when the persecuted general spoke of his services and of the 
way in which they had been requited. 15 

At length the charges came in a definite form before the 
House of Commons. Burgoyne, chairman of the committee, 
a man of wit, fashion, and honor, an agreeable dramatic 
writer, an officer whose courage was never questioned and 
whose skill was at that time highly esteemed, appeared as 20 
the accuser. The members of the administration took different 
sides ; for in that age all questions were open questions, ex- 
cept such as were brought forward by the Government, or 
such as implied some censure on the Government. Thurlow, 
the Attorney-General, was among the assailants. Wedderburne, 25 
the Solicitor-General, strongly attached to Clive, defended his 
friend with extraordinary force of argument and language. It 
is a curious circumstance that, some years later, Thurlow was 
the most conspicuous champion of Warren Hastings, while 
Wedderburne was among the most unrelenting persecutors of 30 
that great though not faultless statesman. Clive spoke in his 
own defense at less length and with less art than in the pre- 
ceding year, but with much energy and pathos. He recounted 
his great actions and his wrongs; and, after bidding his 



86 LORD CLIVE 

hearers remember that they were about to decide not only on 
his honor but on their own, he retired from the House. 

The Commons resolved that acquisitions made by the arms 
of the State belong to the State alone, and that it is illegal in 
5 the servants of the State to appropriate such acquisitions to 
themselves. They resolved that this wholesome rule appeared 
to have been systematically violated by the English function- 
aries in Bengal. On a subsequent day they went a step farther, 
and resolved that Clive had, by means of the power which he 

10 possessed as commander of the British forces in India, ob- 
tained large sums from Meer Jaffier. Here the House stopped. 
They had voted the major and minor of Burgoyne's syllogism ; 
but they shrank from drawing the logical conclusion. When it 
was moved that Lord Clive had abused his powers and set an 

15 evil example to the servants of the public, the previous ques- 
tion was put and carried. At length, long after the sun had 
risen on an animated debate, Wedderburne moved that Lord 
Clive had at the same time rendered great and meritorious 
services to his country ; and this motion passed without a 

20 division. 

The result of this memorable inquiry appears to us, on the 
whole, honorable to the justice, moderation, and discernment 
of the Commons. They had, indeed, no great temptation to do 
wrong. They would have been very bad judges of an accusa- 

25 tion brought against Jenkinson or against Wilkes. But the 
question respecting Clive was not a party question; and the 
House accordingly acted with the good sense and good feeling 
which may always be expected from an assembly of English 
gentlemen not blinded by faction. 

30 The equitable and temperate proceedings of the British 
Parliament were set off to the greatest advantage by a foil. 
The wretched government of Louis the Fifteenth had mur- 
dered, directly or indirectly, almost every Frenchman who had 
served his country with distinction in the East. Labourdonnais 



LORD CLIVE 87 

was flung into the Bastille, and, after years of suffering, left 
it only to die. Dupleix, stripped of his immense fortune, and 
broken-hearted by humiliating attendance in antechambers, 
sank into an obscure grave. Lally was dragged to the com- 
mon- place of execution with a gag between his lips. The 5 
Commons of England, on the other hand, treated their living 
captain with that discriminating justice which is seldom shown 
except to the dead. They laid down sound general prin- 
ciples ; they delicately pointed out where he had deviated 
from those principles ; and they tempered the gentle censure 10 
with liberal eulogy. The contrast struck Voltaire, always 
partial to England, and always eager to expose the abuses of 
the Parliaments of France. Indeed, he seems, at this time, to 
have meditated a history of the conquest of Bengal. He men- 
tioned his design to Dr. Moore when that amusing writer 15 
visited him at Ferney. Wedderburne took great interest in 
the matter and pressed Clive to furnish materials. Had the 
plan been carried into execution,' we have no doubt that 
Voltaire would have produced a book containing much lively 
and picturesque narrative, many just and humane sentiments 20 
poignantly expressed, many grotesque blunders, many sneers 
at the Mosaic chronology, much scandal about the Catholic 
missionaries, and much sublime theophilanthropy, stolen from 
the New Testament and put into the mouths of virtuous and 
philosophical Brahmins. 25 

Clive was now secure in the enjoyment of his fortune and 
his honors. He was surrounded by attached friends and re- 
lations ; and he had not yet passed the season of vigorous 
bodily and mental exertion. But clouds had long been gather- 
ing over his mind, and now settled on it in thick darkness. 30 
From early youth he had been subject to fits of that strange 
melancholy " which rejoiceth exceedingly and is glad when it 
can find the grave." While still a writer at Madras he had 
twice attempted to destroy himself. Business and prosperity 



88 LORD CLIVE 

had produced a salutary effect on his spirits. In India, while 
he was occupied by great affairs ; in England, while wealth and 
rank had still the charm of novelty, he had borne up against 
his constitutional misery. But he had now nothing to do, and 
5 nothing to wish for. His active spirit in an inactive situation 
drooped and withered like a plant in an uncongenial air. The 
malignity with which his enemies had pursued him, the in- 
dignity with which he had been treated by the committee, the 
censure, lenient as it was, which the House of Commons had 

10 pronounced, the knowledge that he was regarded by a large 
portion of his countrymen as a cruel and perfidious tyrant, all 
concurred to irritate and depress him. In the meantime his 
temper was tried by acute physical suffering. During his long 
residence in tropical climates he had contracted several pain- 

15 ful distempers. In order to obtain ease he called in the help 
of opium, and he was gradually enslaved by this treacherous 
ally. To the last, however, his genius occasionally flashed 
through the gloom. It is said that he would sometimes, after 
sitting silent and torpid for hours, rouse himself to the discus- 

20 sion of some great question, would display in full vigor all the 

talents of the soldier and the statesman, and would then sink 

back into his melancholy repose. 

• The disputes with America had now become so serious that 

an appeal to the sword seemed inevitable ; and the Ministers 

25 were desirous to avail themselves of the services of Clive. 
Had he still been what he was when he raised the siege of 
Patna and annihilated the Dutch army and navy at the mouth 
of the Ganges, it is not improbable that the resistance of the 
Colonists would have been put down, and that the inevitable 

30 separation would have been deferred for a few years. But it 
was too late. His strong mind was fast sinking under many 
kinds of suffering. On the twenty-second of November, 1774, 
he died by his own hand. He had just completed his forty- 
ninth year. 



LORD CLIVE 89 

In the awful close of so much prosperity and glory the vulgar 
saw only a confirmation of all their prejudices ; and some men 
of real piety and genius so far forgot the maxims both of religion 
and of philosophy as confidently to ascribe the mournful event to 
the just vengeance of God and to the horrors of an evil con- 5 
science. It is with very different feelings that we contemplate 
the spectacle of a great mind ruined by the weariness of satiety, 
by the pangs of wounded honor, by fatal diseases, and more 
fatal remedies. 

Clive committed great faults, and we have not attempted to 10 
disguise them. But his faults, when weighed against his merits, 
and viewed in connection with his temptations, do not appear 
to us to deprive him of his right to an honorable place in the 
estimation of posterity. 

From his first visit to India dates the renown of the English 15 
arms in the East. Till he appeared, his countrymen were 
despised as mere peddlers, while the French were revered as a 
people formed for victory and command. His courage and 
capacity dissolved the charm. With the defense of Arcot com- 
mences that long series of Oriental triumphs which closes with 20 
the fall of Ghizni. Nor must we forget that he was only 
twenty-five years old when he approved himself ripe for mili- 
tary command. This is a rare if not a singular distinction. It 
is true that Alexander, Conde', and Charles the Twelfth won 
great battles at a still earlier age ; but those princes were 25 
surrounded by veteran generals of distinguished skill, to whose 
suggestions must be attributed the victories of the Granicus, of 
Rocroi,and of Narva. Clive, an inexperienced youth, had yet 
more experience than any of those who served under him. He 
had to form himself, to form his officers, and to form his army. 30 
The only man, as far as we recollect, who at an equally early age 
ever gave equal proof of talents for war was Napoleon Bonaparte. 

From Clive's second visit to India dates the political ascend- 
ancy of the English in that country. His dexterity and resolution 



go LORD CLIVE 

realized, in the course of a few months, more than all the 
gorgeous visions which had floated before the imagination of 
Dupleix. Such an extent of cultivated territory, such an amount 
of revenue, such a multitude of subjects, were never added to 

5 the dominion of Rome by the most successful proconsul. Nor 
were such wealthy spoils ever borne under arches of triumph, 
down the Sacred Way, and through the crowded Forum, to the 
threshold of Tarpeian Jove. The fame of those who subdued 
Antiochus and Tigranes grows dim when compared with the 

10 splendor of the exploits which the young English adventurer 
achieved at the head of an army not equal in numbers to one 
half of a Roman legion. 

From Clive's third visit to India dates the purity of the ad- 
ministration of our Eastern empire. When he landed in Calcutta 

15 in 1765 Bengal was regarded as a place to which Englishmen 
were sent only to get rich, by any means, in the shortest pos- 
sible time. He first made dauntless and unsparing war on that 
gigantic system of oppression, extortion, and corruption. In 
that war he manfully put to hazard his ease, his fame, and his 

20 splendid fortune. The same sense of justice which forbids us 
to conceal or extenuate the faults of his earlier days compels us 
to admit that those faults were nobly repaired. If the reproach 
of the Company and of its servants has been taken away ; if in 
India the yoke of foreign masters, elsewhere the heaviest of all 

25 yokes, has been found lighter than that of any native dynasty; 
if to that gang of public robbers which formerly spread terror 
through the whole plain of Bengal has succeeded a body of 
functionaries not more highly distinguished by ability and dili- 
gence' than by integrity, disinterestedness, and public spirit ; if 

30 we now see such men as Munro, Elphinstone, and Metcalfe, 
after leading victorious armies, after making and deposing kings, 
return, proud of their honorable poverty, from a land which 
once held out to every greedy • factor the hope of boundless 
wealth, the praise is in no small measure due to Clive. His name 



LORD CLIVE 91 

stands high on the roll of conquerors. But it is found in a better 
list, — in the list of those who have done and suffered much 
for the happiness of mankind. To the warrior history will as- 
sign a place in the same rank with Lucullus and Trajan. Nor 
will she deny to the reformer a share of that veneration with 
which France cherishes the memory of Turgot, and with which 
the latest generations of Hindoos will contemplate the statue of 
Lord William Bentinck. 




Madras j „ 

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andewash Q . 
Pondicherryrfrf.ioJ] 
Pt.St.Dand * 
j} orto Novo * 

L ' -roon R. * 

yore o 



.Trincomalee 
l{YLOI 
Colombo'fe 

N D IAN \0 C E AN 



SCALE OF MILES 



75° Longitude Ea3t 80° from Greenwich 



India in 1785 at the Close of Hastings's Administration 



92 



WARREN HASTINGS 

This book seems to have been manufactured in pursuance 
of a contract, by which the representatives of Warren Hastings, 
on the one part, bound themselves to furnish papers, and 
Mr. Gleig, on the other part, bound himself to furnish praise. 
It is but just to say that the covenants on both sides have been 5 
most faithfully kept ; and the result is before us in the form of 
three big bad volumes, full of undigested correspondence and 
undiscerning panegyric. 

If it were worth while to examine this performance in detail, 
we could easily make a long article by merely pointing out 10 
inaccurate statements, inelegant expressions, and immoral doc- 
trines. But it would be idle to waste criticism on a bookmaker ; 
and whatever credit Mr. Gleig may have justly earned by 
former works, it is as a bookmaker, and nothing more, that he 
now comes before us. More eminent men than Mr. Gleig have 15 
written nearly as ill as he, when they have stooped to similar 
drudgery. It would be unjust to estimate Goldsmith by the 
" History of Greece," or Scott by the " Life of Napoleon." Mr. 
Gleig is neither a Goldsmith nor a Scott; but it would be unjust to 
deny that he is capable of something better than these Memoirs. 20 
It would also, we hope and believe, be unjust to charge any 
Christian minister with the guilt of deliberately maintaining 
some propositions which we find in this book. It is not too 
much to say that Mr. Gleig has written several passages which 
bear the same relation to " The Prince " of Machiavelli that 25 
" The Prince " of Machiavelli bears to " The Whole Duty of 
Man," and which would excite amazement in a den of robbers 

93 



94 WARREN HASTINGS 

or on board of a schooner of pirates. But we are willing to 
attribute these offenses to haste, to thoughtlessness, and to that 
disease of the understanding which may be called the Furor 
Biographicus, and which is to writers of lives what the goiter is 
5 to an Alpine shepherd, or dirt eating to a Negro slave. 

We are inclined to think that we shall best meet the wishes 
of our readers, if, instead of dwelling on the faults of this book, 
we attempt to give, in a way necessarily hasty and imperfect, 
our own view of the life and character of Mr. Hastings. Our 

10 feeling towards him is not exactly that of the House of Com- 
mons which impeached him in 1787 ; neither is it that of the 
House of Commons which uncovered and stood up to receive 
him in 18 13. He had great qualities and he rendered great 
services. to the state. But to represent him as a man of stainless 

1 5 virtue is to make him ridiculous ; and from regard for his mem- 
ory, if from no other feeling, his friends would have done well to 
lend no countenance to such puerile adulation. We believe that, 
if he were now living, he would have sufficient judgment and 
sufficient greatness of mind to wish to be shown as he was. He 

20 must have known that there were dark spots on his fame. He 
might also have felt with pride that the splendor of his fame 
would bear many spots. He would have preferred, we are con- 
fident, even the severity of Mr. Mill to the puffing of Mr. Gleig. 
He would have wished posterity to have a likeness of him, 

25 though an unfavorable likeness, rather than a daub at once 
insipid and unnatural, resembling neither him nor anybody else. 
" Paint me as I am," said Oliver Cromwell, while sitting to 
young Lely. " If you leave out the scars and wrinkles, I will 
not pay you a shilling." Even in such a trifle the great Protector 

30 showed both his good sense and his magnanimity. He did not 
wish all that was characteristic in his countenance to be lost, 
in the vain attempt to give him the regular features and smooth, 
blooming cheeks of the curl-pated minions of James the First. 
He was content that his face should go forth marked with all 



WARREN HASTINGS 95 

the blemishes which had been put on it by time, by war, by 
sleepless nights, by anxiety, perhaps by remorse ; but with valor, 
policy, authority, and public care written in all its princely lines. 
If men truly great knew their own interest, it is thus that they 
would wish their minds to be portrayed. 5 

Warren Hastings sprang from an ancient and illustrious race. 
It has been affirmed that his pedigree can be traced back to the 
great Danish sea king, whose sails were long the terror of both 
coasts of the British Channel, and who, after many fierce and 
doubtful struggles, yielded at last to the valor and genius of 10 
Alfred. But the undoubted splendor of the line of Hastings 
needs no illustration from fable. One branch of that line wore, 
in the fourteenth century, the coronet of Pembroke. From 
another branch sprang the renowned chamberlain, the faithful 
adherent of the White Rose, whose fate has furnished so strik- 1 5 
ing a theme both to poets and to historians. His family received 
from the Tudors the earldom of Huntingdon, which, after long 
dispossession, was regained in our time by a series of events 
scarcely paralleled in romance. 

The lords of the manor of Daylesford, in Worcestershire, 20 
claimed to be considered as the heads of this distinguished 
family. The main stock, indeed, prospered less than some of 
the younger shoots. But the Daylesford family, though not 
ennobled, was wealthy and highly considered, till, about two 
hundred years ago, it was overwhelmed by the great ruin 25 
of the civil war. The Hastings of that time was a zealous 
cavalier. He raised money on his lands, sent his plate to 
the mint at Oxford, joined the royal army, and, after spend- 
ing half his property in the cause of King Charles, was 
glad to ransom himself by making over most of the remain- 30 
ing half to Speaker Lenthal. The old seat at Daylesford still 
remained in the family, but it could no longer be kept up, 
and in the following generation it was sold to a merchant 
of London. 



96 WARREN HASTINGS 

Before this transfer took place the last Hastings of Daylesford 
had presented his second son to the rectory of the parish in 
which the ancient residence of the family stood. The living, was 
of little value, and the situation of the poor clergyman after 
5 the sale of the estate was deplorable. He was constantly en- 
gaged in lawsuits about his tithes with the new lord of the manor, 
and was at length utterly ruined. His eldest son, Howard, a 
well-conducted young man, obtained a place in the Customs. 
The second son, Pynaston, an idle, worthless boy, married be- 

10 fore he was sixteen, lost his wife in two years, and died in the 
West Indies, leaving to the care of his unfortunate father a 
little orphan, destined to strange and memorable vicissitudes 
of fortune. 

Warren, the son of Pynaston, was born on the sixth of 

fS December, 1732. His mother died a few days later, and he was 
left dependent on his distressed grandfather. The child was 
early sent to the village school, where he learned his letters on 
the same bench with the sons of the peasantry. Nor did any- 
thing in his garb or fare indicate that his life was to take a 

20 widely different course from that of the young rustics with 
whom he studied and played. But no cloud could overcast the 
dawn of so much genius and so much ambition. The very 
plowmen observed, and long remembered, how kindly little 
Warren took to his book. The daily sight of the lands which 

25 his ancestors had possessed, and which had passed into the 
hands of strangers, filled his young brain with wild fancies and 
projects. He loved to hear stories of the wealth and greatness 
of his progenitors, of their splendid housekeeping, their loyalty, 
and their valor. On one bright summer day the boy, then just 

30 seven years old, lay on the bank of the rivulet which flows 
through the old domain of his house to join the Isis. There, 
as threescore and ten years later he told the tale, rose in his 
mind a scheme which, through all the turns of his eventful 
career, was never abandoned. He would recover the estate 



WARREN HASTINGS 97 

which had belonged to his fathers. He would be Hastings of 
Daylesford. This purpose, formed in infancy and poverty, grew 
stronger as his intellect expanded and as his fortune rose. He 
pursued his plan with that calm but indomitable force of will 
which was the most striking peculiarity of his character. When, 5 
under a tropical sun, he ruled fifty millions of Asiatics, his hopes, 
amidst all the cares of war, finance, and legislation, still pointed 
to Daylesford. And when his long public life, so singularly check- 
ered with good and evil, with glory and obloquy, had at length 
closed forever, it was to Daylesford that he retired to die. 10 

When he was eight years old his uncle Howard determined 
to take charge of him and to give him a liberal education. The 
boy went up to London and was sent to a school at Newington, 
where he was well taught but ill fed. He always attributed 
the smallness of his stature to the hard and scanty fare of this 1 5 
seminary. At ten he was removed to Westminster School, then 
nourishing under the care of Dr. Nichols. Vinny Bourne, as 
his pupils affectionately called him, was one of the masters. 
Churchill, Colman, Lloyd, Cumberland, Cowper, were among 
the students. With Cowper, Hastings formed a friendship which 20 
neither the lapse of time nor a wide dissimilarity of opinions 
and pursuits could wholly dissolve. It does not appear that 
they ever met after they had grown to manhood. But forty 
years later, when the voices of many great orators were crying 
for vengeance on the oppressor of India, the shy and secluded 25 
poet could image to himself Hastings the Governor-General 
only as the Hastings with whom he had rowed on the Thames 
and played in the cloister, and refused to believe that so good- 
tempered a fellow could have done anything very wrong. His 
own life had been spent in praying, musing, and riming among 30 
the water lilies of the Ouse. He had preserved in no common 
measure the innocence of childhood. His spirit had indeed 
been severely tried, but not by temptations which impelled him 
to any gross violation of the rules of social morality. He had 



98 WARREN HASTINGS 

never been attacked by combinations of powerful and deadly 
enemies. He had never been compelled to make a choice be- 
tween innocence and greatness, between crime and ruin. Firmly 
as he held in theory the doctrine of human depravity, his habits 
5 were such that he was unable to conceive how far from the path 
of right even kind and noble natures may be hurried by the rage 
of conflict and the lust of dominion. 

Hastings had another associate at Westminster of whom we 
shall have occasion to make frequent mention, Elijah Impey. 

io We know little about their school days. But we think we may 

safely venture to guess that, whenever Hastings wished to play 

any trick more than usually naughty, he hired Impey, with a 

tart or a ball, to act as fag in the worst part of the prank. 

Warren was distinguished among his comrades as an excellent 

1 5 swimmer, boatman, and scholar. At fourteen he was first in the 
examination for the foundation. His name in gilded letters on 
the walls of the dormitory still attests his victory over many 
older competitors. He stayed two years longer at the school, 
and was looking forward to a studentship at Christ Church, 

20 when an event happened which changed the whole course of 
his life. Howard Hastings died, bequeathing his nephew to 
the care of a friend and distant relation, named Chiswick. 
This gentleman, though he did not absolutely refuse the charge, 
was desirous to rid himself of it as soon as possible. Dr. 

25 Nichols made strong remonstrances against the cruelty of inter- 
rupting the studies of a youth who seemed likely to be one of 
the first scholars of the age. He even offered to bear the ex- 
pense of sending his favorite pupil to Oxford. But Mr. Chiswick 
was inflexible. He thought the years which had already been 

30 wasted on hexameters and pentameters quite sufficient. He had 
it in his power to obtain for the lad a writership in the service of 
the East India Company. Whether the young adventurer, when 
once shipped off, made a fortune or died of a liver complaint, 
he equally ceased to be a burden to anybody. Warren was 



WARREN HASTINGS 99 

accordingly removed from Westminster School and placed for a 
few months at a commercial academy to study arithmetic and 
bookkeeping. In January, 1750, a few days after he had com- 
pleted his seventeenth year, he sailed for Bengal and arrived 
at his destination in the October following. 5 

He was immediately placed at a desk in the Secretary's office 
at Calcutta, and labored there during two years. Fort William 
was then a purely commercial settlement. In the south of India 
the encroaching policy of Dupleix had transformed the servants 
of the English Company, against their will, into diplomatists and 10 
generals. The war of the succession was raging in the Carnatic ; 
and the tide had been suddenly turned against the French by 
the genius of young Robert Clive. But in Bengal the European 
settlers, at peace with the natives and with each other, were 
wholly occupied with ledgers and bills of lading. 15 

After two years passed in keeping accounts at Calcutta, Hast- 
ings was sent up the country to Cossimbazar, a town which lies 
on the Hoogley, about a mile from Moorshedabad, and which 
then bore to Moorshedabad a relation, if we may compare small 
things with great, such as the city of London bears to West- 20 
minster. Moorshedabad was the abode of the prince who, by 
an authority ostensibly derived from the Mogul, but really inde- 
pendent, ruled the three great provinces of Bengal, Orissa, and 
Bahar. At Moorshedabad were the court, the harem, and the 
public offices. Cossimbazar was a port and a place of trade, 25 
renowned for the quantity and excellence of the silks which 
were sold in its marts, and constantly receiving and sending 
forth fleets of richly laden barges. At this important point the 
Company had established a small factory subordinate to that 
of Fort William. Here, during several years, Hastings was em- 30 
ployed in making bargains for stuffs with native brokers. While 
he was thus engaged Surajah Dowlah succeeded to the Govern- 
ment and declared war against the English. The defenseless 
settlement of Cossimbazar, lying close to the tyrant's capital, 



IOO WARREN HASTINGS 

was instantly seized. Hastings was sent a prisoner to Moorshed- 
abad, but, in consequence of the humane intervention of the 
servants of the Dutch Company, was treated with indulgence. 
Meanwhile the Nabob marched on Calcutta ; the Governor and 
5 the commandant fled ; the town and citadel were taken, and 
most of the English prisoners perished in the Black Hole. 

In these events originated the greatness of Warren Hastings. 
The fugitive Governor and his companions had taken refuge on 
the dreary islet of Fulda, near the mouth of the Hoogley. They 

10 were naturally desirous to obtain full information respecting 
the proceedings of the Nabob ; and no person seemed so likely 
to furnish it as Hastings, who was a prisoner at large in the im- 
mediate neighborhood of the court. He thus became a diplo- 
matic agent and soon established a high character for ability and 

15 resolution. The treason which at a later period was fatal to 
Surajah Dowlah was already in progress ; and Hastings was 
admitted to the deliberations of the conspirators. But the time 
for striking had not arrived. It was necessary to postpone the 
execution of the design ; and Hastings, who was now in extreme 

20 peril, fled to Fulda. 

Soon after his arrival at Fulda the expedition from Madras, 
commanded by Clive, appeared in the Hoogley. Warren, young, 
intrepid, and excited probably by the example of the commander 
of the forces who, having like himself been a mercantile agent 

25 of the Company, had been turned by public calamities into a 
soldier, determined to serve in the ranks. During the early 
operations of the war he carried a musket. But the quick eye 
of Clive soon perceived that the head of the young volunteer 
would be more useful than his arm. When, after the battle of 

30 Plassey, Meer Jaffier was proclaimed Nabob of Bengal, Hastings 
was appointed to reside at the court of the new prince as agent 
for the Company. 

He remained at Moorshedabad till the year 1761, when he 
became a member of Council, and was consequently forced to 



WARREN HASTINGS IOI 

reside at Calcutta. This was during the interval between Clive's 
first and second administration, an interval which has left on the 
fame of the East India Company a stain not wholly effaced by 
many years of just and humane government. Mr. Vansittart, 
the Governor, was at the head of a new and anomalous empire. 5 
On the one side \vas a band of English functionaries, daring, 
intelligent, eager to be rich. On the other side was a great native 
population, helpless, timid, accustomed to crouch under oppres- 
sion. To keep the stronger race from preying on the weaker 
was an undertaking which tasked to the utmost the talents and 10 
energy of Clive. Vansittart, with fair intentions, was a feeble 
and inefficient ruler. The master caste, as was natural, broke 
loose from all restraint ; and then was seen what we believe to 
be the most frightful of all spectacles, the strength of civilization 
without its mercy. To all other despotism there is a check, im- 15 
perfect indeed, and liable to gross abuse, but still sufficient to 
preserve society from the last extreme of misery. A time comes 
when the evils of submission are obviously greater than those 
of resistance, when fear itself begets a sort of courage, when a 
convulsive burst of popular rage and despair warns tyrants not 20 
to presume too far on the patience of mankind. But against 
misgovernment such as then afflicted Bengal it was impossible 
to struggle. The superior intelligence and energy of the domi- 
nant class made their power irresistible. A war of Bengalese 
against Englishmen was like a war of sheep against wolves, of 25 
men against demons. The only protection which the conquered 
could find was in the moderation, the clemency, the enlarged 
policy; of the conquerors. That protection, at a later period, 
they found. But at first English power came among them 
unaccompanied by English morality. .There was an interval 30 
between the time at which they became our subjects, and the 
time at which we began to reflect that we were bound to dis- 
charge towards them the duties of rulers. During that interval 
the business of a servant of the Company was simply to wring 



102 WARREN HASTINGS 

out of the natives a hundred or two hundred thousand pounds 
as speedily as possible, that he might return home before his 
constitution had suffered from the heat, to marry a peer's 
daughter, to buy rotten boroughs in Cornwall, and to give balls 
5 in St. James's Square. Of the conduct of Hastings at this 
time little is known ; but the little that is known, and the circum- 
stance that little is known, must be considered as honorable to 
him. He could not protect the natives ; all that he could do was 
to abstain from plundering and oppressing them ; and this he 

10 appears to have done. It is certain that at this time he continued 
poor; and it is equally certain that by cruelty and dishonesty 
he might easily have become rich. It is certain that he was 
never charged with having borne a share in the worst abuses 
which then prevailed ; and it is almost equally certain that, if 

15 he had borne a share in those abuses, the able and bitter ene- 
mies who afterwards persecuted him would not have failed to 
discover and to proclaim his guilt. The keen, severe, and even 
malevolent scrutiny to which his whole public life was subjected, 
— a scrutiny unparalleled, as we believe, in the history of man- 

20 kind, — is in one respect advantageous to his reputation. It 
brought many lamentable blemishes to light ; but it entitles him 
to be considered pure from every blemish which has not been 
brought to light. 

The truth is that the temptations to which so many English 

25 functionaries yielded in the time of Mr. Vansittart were not 
temptations addressed to the ruling passions of Warren Hast- 
ings. He was not squeamish in pecuniary transactions ; but he 
was neither sordid nor rapacious. He was far too enlightened a 
man to look on a great empire merely as a buccaneer would 

30 look on a galleon. Had his heart been much worse than it 
was, his understanding would have preserved him from that 
extremity of baseness. He was an unscrupulous, perhaps an 
unprincipled, statesman ; but still he was a statesman, and 
not a freebooter. 



WARREN HASTINGS 103 

In 1764 Hastings returned to England. He had realized 
only a very moderate fortune ; and that moderate fortune 
was soon reduced to nothing, partly by his praiseworthy 
liberality and partly by his mismanagement. Towards his 
relations he appears to have acted very generously. The 5 
greater part of his savings he left in Bengal, hoping probably 
to obtain the high usury of India. But high usury and bad 
security generally go together ; and Hastings lost both interest 
and principal. 

He remained four years in England. Of his life at this 10 
time very little is known. But it has been asserted, and is 
highly probable, that liberal studies and the society of men 
of letters occupied a great part of his time. It is to be 
remembered to his honor, that in days when the languages 
of the East were regarded by other servants of the Company 15 
merely as the means of communicating with weavers and 
money changers, his enlarged and accomplished mind sought 
in Asiatic learning for new forms of intellectual enjoyment, 
and for new views of government and society. Perhaps, like 
most persons who have paid much attention to departments 20 
of knowledge which lie out of the common track, he was 
inclined to overrate the value of his favorite studies. He con- 
ceived that the cultivation of Persian literature might with 
advantage be made a part of the liberal education of an Eng- 
lish gentleman ; and he drew up a plan with that view. It is 25 
said that the University of Oxford, in which Oriental learning 
had never, since the revival of letters, been wholly neglected, 
was to be the seat of the institution which he contemplated. 
An endowment was expected from the munificence of the 
Company ; and professors thoroughly competent to interpret 30 
Hafiz and Ferdusi were to be engaged in the East. Hastings 
called on Johnson, with the hope, as it should seem, of interest- 
ing in this project a man who enjoyed the highest literary reputa- 
tion, and who was particularly connected with Oxford. The 



104 WARREN HASTINGS 

interview appears to have left on Johnson's mind a most favor- 
able impression of the talents and attainments of his visitor. 
Long after, when Hastings was ruling the immense popula- 
tion of British India, the old philosopher wrote to him, and 
5 referred in the most courtly terms, though with great dignity, 
to their short but agreeable intercourse. 

Hastings soon began to look again towards India. He had 
little to attach him to England ; and his pecuniary embarrass- 
ments were great. He solicited his old masters, the Directors, 

10 for employment. They acceded to his request, with high com- 
pliments both to his abilities and to his integrity, and appointed 
him a member of Council at Madras. It would be unjust not 
to mention that, though forced to borrow money for his outfit, 
he did not withdraw any portion of the sum which he had 

15 appropriated to the relief of his distressed relations. In the 
spring of 1769 he embarked on board of the Duke of Grafton, 
and commenced a voyage distinguished by incidents which 
might furnish matter for a novel. 

Among the passengers in the Duke of Grafton was a 

20 German of the name of Imhoff. He called himself a baron ; 
but he was in distressed circumstances, and was going out 
to Madras as a portrait painter, in the hope of picking up 
some of the pagodas which were then lightly got and as 
lightly spent by the English in India. The baron was accom- 

25 panied by his wife, a native, we have somewhere read, of 
Archangel. This young woman who, born under the Arctic 
circle, was destined to play the part of a queen under the 
tropic of Cancer, had an agreeable person, a cultivated mind, 
and manners in the highest degree engaging. She despised 

30 her husband heartily, and, as the story which we have to tell 
sufficiently proves, not without reason. She was interested by 
the conversation and flattered by the attentions of Hastings. 
The situation was indeed perilous. No place is so propitious 
to the formation either of close friendships or of deadly 



WARREN HASTINGS 105 

enmitjes as an Indiaman. There are very few people who do 
not find a voyage which lasts several months insupportably 
dull. Anything is welcome which may break that long monot- 
ony, — a sail, a shark, an albatross, a man overboard. Most 
passengers find some resource in eating twice as many meals 5 
as on land. But the great devices for killing the time are 
quarreling and flirting. The facilities for both these exciting 
pursuits are great. The inmates of the ship are thrown to- 
gether far more than in any country seat or boarding house. 
None can escape from the rest except by imprisoning himself 10 
in a cell in which he can hardly turn. All food, all exercise, 
are taken in company. Ceremony is to a great extent banished. 
-It is every day in the power of a mischievous person to inflict 
innumerable annoyances; it is every day in the power of an 
amiable person to confer little services. It not seldom happens 1 5 
that serious distress and danger call forth in genuine beauty 
and deformity heroic virtues and abject vices which, in the 
ordinary intercourse of good society, might remain during 
many years unknown even to intimate associates. Under such 
circumstances met Warren Hastings and the Baroness Imhoff, 20 
two persons whose accomplishments would have attracted notice 
in any court of Europe. The gentleman had no domestic ties. 
The lady was tied to a husband for whom she had no regard, 
and who had no regard for his own honor. An attachment 
sprang up, which was soon strengthened by events such as 25 
could hardly have occurred on land. Hastings fell ill. The 
baroness nursed him with womanly tenderness, gave him his 
medicines with her own hand, and even sat up in his cabin 
while he slept. Long before the Dicke of Grafton reached 
Madras, Hastings was in love. But his love was of a most 30 
characteristic description. Like his hatred, like his ambition, 
like all his passions, it was strong but not impetuous. It was 
calm, deep, earnest, patient of delay, unconquerable by time. 
Imhoff was called into council by his wife and his wife's lover. 



106 WARREN HASTINGS 

It was arranged that the baroness should institute a suit for a 
divorce in the courts of Franconia, that the baron should afford 
every facility to the proceeding, and that, during the years which 
might elapse before the sentence should be pronounced, they 
5 should continue to live together. It was also agreed that 
Hastings should bestow some very substantial marks of grati- 
tude on the complaisant husband, and should, when the mar- 
riage was dissolved, make the lady his wife, and adopt the 
children whom she had already borne to Imhoff. 

10 We are not inclined to judge either Hastings or the baroness 
severely. There was undoubtedly much to extenuate their fault. 
But we can by no means concur with the Reverend Mr. Gleig, 
who carries his partiality to so injudicious an extreme as to de- 
scribe the conduct of Imhoff — conduct the baseness of which is 

15 the best excuse for the lovers — as " wise and judicious." 

At Madras, Hastings found the trade of the Company in a 
very disorganized state. His own tastes would have led him 
rather to political than to commercial pursuits, but he knew 
that the favor of his employers depended chiefly on their 

20 dividends, and that their dividends depended chiefly on the 
investment. He therefore, with great judgment, determined 
to apply his vigorous mind for a time to this department of 
business, which had been much neglected since the servants 
of the Company had ceased to be clerks and had become 

25 warriors and negotiators. 

In a very few months he effected an important reform. 
The Directors notified to him their high approbation, and 
were so much pleased with his conduct that they determined 
to place him at the head of the Government of Bengal. Early 

30 in 1772 he quitted Fort St. George for his new post. The 
Imhoffs, who were still man and wife, accompanied him, and 
lived at Calcutta "on the same wise and judicious plan," — 
we -quote the words of Mr. Gleig, — which they had already 
followed during more than two years. 



WARREN HASTINGS 107 

When Hastings took his seat at the head of the council 
board, Bengal was still governed according to the system 
which Clive had devised, — a system which was, perhaps, skill- 
fully contrived for the purpose of facilitating and concealing 
a great revolution, but which, when that revolution was com- 5 
plete and irrevocable, could produce nothing but inconvenience. 
There were two governments, the real and the ostensible. The 
supreme power belonged to the Company, and was in truth the 
most despotic power that can be conceived. The only restraint 
on the English masters of the country was that which their 10 
own justice and humanity imposed on them. There was no 
constitutional check on their will, and resistance to them was 
utterly hopeless. 

But, though thus absolute in reality, the English had not 
yet assumed the style of sovereignty. They held their terri- 15 
tories as vassals of the throne of Delhi ; they raised their 
revenues as collectors appointed by the imperial commission ; 
their public seal was inscribed with the imperial titles ; and 
their mint struck only the imperial coin. 

There was still a Nabob of Bengal, who stood to the Eng- 20 
lish rulers of his country in the same relation in which 
Augustulus stood to Odoacer, or the last Merovingians to 
Charles Martel and Pepin. He lived at Moorshedabad, sur- 
rounded by princely magnificence. He was approached with 
outward marks of reverence, and his name was used in public 25 
instruments. But in the government of % the country he had 
less real share than the youngest writer or cadet in the 
Company's service. 

The English Council which represented the Company at \ 
Calcutta was constituted on a very different plan from that 3d 
which has since been adopted. At present the Governor is, 
as to all executive measures, absolute. He can declare war, 
conclude peace, appoint public functionaries or remove them, 
in opposition to the unanimous sense of those who sit with 



108 WARREN HASTINGS 

him in council. They are, indeed, entitled to know all that 
is done, to discuss all that is done, to advise^, to remonstrate, 
to send protests to England. But it is with the Governor 
that the supreme power resides, and on him that the whole 
5 responsibility rests. This system, which was introduced by 
Mr. Pitt and Mr. Dundas in spite of the strenuous opposi- 
tion of Mr. Burke, we conceive to be on the whole the best 
that was ever devised for the government of a country where 
no materials can be found for a representative constitution. 

10 In the time of Hastings the Governor had only one vote in 
council, and, in case of an equal division, a casting vote. It 
therefore happened not infrequently that he was overruled 
on the gravest questions ; and it was possible that he might 
be wholly excluded, for years together, from the real direc- 

15 tion of public affairs. 

The English functionaries at Fort William had as yet paid 
little or no attention to the internal government of Bengal. 
The only branch of politics about which they much busied 
themselves was negotiation with the native princes. The 

20 police, the administration of justice, the details of the col- 
lection of revenue, they almost entirely neglected. We may 
remark that the phraseology of the Company's servants still 
bears the traces of this state of things. To this day they 
always use the word " political " as synonymous with " diplo- 

25 matic." We could name a gentleman still living who was 
described by the highest authority as an invaluable public 

- servant, eminently fit to be at the head of the internal ad- 
ministration of a whole presidency, but unfortunately quite 
ignorant of all political business. 

30 The internal government of Bengal the English rulers dele- 
gated to a great native minister, who was stationed at Moor- 
shedabad. All military affairs, and, with the exception of what 
pertains to mere ceremonial, all foreign affairs, were withdrawn 
from his control ; but the other departments of the administration 



WARREN HASTINGS 109 

were entirely confided to him. His own stipend amounted 
to near a hundred thousand pounds sterling a year. The per- 
sonal allowance of the nabobs, amounting to more than three 
hundred thousand pounds a year, passed through the minister's 
hands, and was, to a great extent, at his disposal. The collec- 5 
tion of the revenue, the administration of justice, the mainte- 
nance of order, were left to this high functionary ; and for the 
exercise of his immense power he was responsible to none but 
the British masters of the country. 

A situation so important, lucrative, and splendid was naturally 10 
an object of ambition to the ablest and most powerful natives. 
Clive had found it difficult to decide between conflicting pre- 
tensions. Two candidates stood out prominently from the 
crowd, each of them the representative of a race and of a 
religion. 1 5 

The one was Mohammed Reza Khan, a Mussulman of 
Persian extraction, able, active, religious after the fashion 
of his people, and highly esteemed by them. In England he 
might perhaps have been regarded as a corrupt and greedy 
politician. But, tried by the lower standard of Indian morality, 20 
he might be considered as a man of integrity and honor. 

His competitor was a Hindoo Brahmin whose name has, by 
a terrible and melancholy event, been inseparably associated 
with that of Warren Hastings, the Maharajah Nuncomar. 
This man had played an important part in all the revolutions 25 
which, since the time of Surajah Dowlah, had taken place in 
Bengal. To the consideration which in that country belongs 
to high and pure caste, he added the weight which is derived 
from wealth, talents, and experience. Of his moral character 
it is difficult to give a notion to those who are acquainted with 30 
human nature only as it appears in our island. What the 
Italian is to the Englishman, what the Hindoo is to the 
Italian, what the Bengalese is to other Hindoos, that was 
Nuncomar to other Bengalese. The physical organization of 



HO WARREN HASTINGS 

the Bengalese is feeble even to effeminacy. He lives in a con- 
stant vapor bath. His pursuits are sedentary, his limbs deli- 
cate, his movements languid. During many ages he has been 
trampled upon by men of bolder and more hardy breeds. 
5 Courage, independence, veracity, are qualities to which his 
constitution and his situation are equally unfavorable. His 
mind bears a singular analogy to his body. It is weak even 
to helplessness, for purposes of manly resistance; but its 
suppleness and its tact move the children of sterner climates 

10 to admiration not unmingled with contempt. All those arts 
which are the natural defense of the weak are more familiar 
to this subtle race than to the Ionian of the time of Juvenal, 
or to the Jew of the dark ages. What the horns are to the 
buffalo, what the paw is to the tiger, what the sting is to the 

15 bee, what beauty, according to the old Greek song, is to 
woman, deceit is to the Bengalese. Large promises, smooth ex- 
cuses, elaborate tissues of circumstantial falsehood, chicanery, 
perjury, forgery, are the weapons, offensive and defensive, of 
the people of the Lower Ganges. All those millions do not 

20 furnish one sepoy to the armies of the Company. But as 
usurers, as money changers, as sharp legal practitioners, no 
class of human beings can bear a comparison with them. 
With all his softness, the Bengalese is by no means placable 
in his enmities or prone to pity. The pertinacity with which 

25 he adheres to his purposes yields only to the immediate pres- 
sure of fear. Nor does he lack a certain kind of courage 
which is often wanting in his masters. To inevitable evils he 
is sometimes found to oppose a passive fortitude, such as the 
Stoics attributed to their ideal sage. A European warrior who 

30 rushes on a battery of cannon with a loud hurrah will some- 
times shriek under the surgeon's knife and fall into an agony 
of despair at the sentence of death. But the Bengalese who 
would see his country overrun, his house laid in ashes, his 
children murdered or dishonored, without having the spirit to 



WARREN HASTINGS III 

strike one blow, has yet been known to endure torture with 
the firmness of Mucius, and to mount the scaffold with the 
steady step and even pulse of Algernon Sydney. 

In Nuncomar the national character was strongly and with 
exaggeration personified. The Company's servants had repeat- 5 
edly detected him in the most criminal intrigues. On one 
occasion he brought a false charge against another Hindoo and 
tried to substantiate it by producing forged documents. On 
another occasion it was discovered that, while professing the 
strongest attachment to the English, he was engaged in several 10 
conspiracies against them, and in particular that he was the 
medium of a correspondence between the Court of Delhi and 
the French authorities in the Carnatic. For these and similar 
practices he had been long detained in confinement. But his 
talents and influence had not only procured his liberation, but 15 
had obtained for him a certain degree of consideration even 
among the British rulers of his country. 

Clive was extremely unwilling to place a Mussulman at the 
head of the administration of Bengal. On the other hand, he 
could not bring himself to confer immense power on a man to 20 
whom every sort of villany had repeatedly been brought home. 
Therefore, though the Nabob, over whom Nuncomar had by 
intrigue acquired great influence, begged that the artful Hindoo 
might be intrusted with the Government, Clive, after some hesi- 
tation, decided honestly and wisely in favor of Mohammed 25 
Reza Khan, who had held his high office seven years when 
Hastings became Governor. An infant son of Meer Jaffier was 
now Nabob ; and the guardianship of the young prince's person 
had been confided to the minister. 

Nuncomar, stimulated at once by cupidity and malice, had 30 
been constantly attempting to undermine his successful rival. 
This was not difficult. The revenues of Bengal, under the ad- 
ministration established by Clive, did not yield such a surplus 
as had been anticipated by the Company; for, at that time, 



112 WARREN HASTINGS 

the most absurd notions were entertained in England respect- 
ing the wealth of India. Palaces of porphyry, hung with the 
richest brocade, heaps of pearls and diamonds, vaults from 
which pagodas and gold mohurs were measured out by the 
5 bushel, filled the imagination even of men of business. Nobody 
seemed to be aware of what nevertheless was most undoubt- 
edly the truth, that India was a poorer country than countries 
which in Europe are reckoned poor, — than Ireland, for example, 
or than Portugal. It was confidently believed by lords of the 

10 treasury and members for the city that Bengal would not only 
defray its own charges, but would afford an increased dividend 
to the proprietors of India stock and large relief to the English 
finances. These absurd expectations were disappointed; and 
the directors naturally enough chose to attribute the disappoint- 

15 ment rather to the mismanagement of Mohammed Reza 
Khan than to their own ignorance of the country intrusted to 
their care. They were confirmed in their error by the agents 
of Nuncomar ; for Nuncomar had agents even in Leadenhall 
Street. Soon after Hastings reached Calcutta he received a 

20 letter addressed by the Court of Directors, not to the Council 
generally, but to himself in particular. He was directed to re- 
move Mohammed Reza Khan, to arrest him, together with all 
his family and all his partisans, and to institute a strict inquiry 
into the whole administration of the province. It was added 

25 that the Governor would do well to avail himself of the assist- 
ance of Nuncomar in the investigation. The vices of Nuncomar 
were acknowledged. But even from his vices, it was said, 
much advantage might at such a conjuncture be derived ; and, 
though he could not safely be trusted, it might still be proper 

30 to encourage him by hopes of reward. 

The Governor bore no good will to Nuncomar. Many years 
before, they had known each other at Moorshedabad ; and 
then a quarrel had risen between them which all the authority 
of their superiors could hardly compose. Widely as they 



WARREN HASTINGS 113 

differed in most points, they resembled each other in this, that 
both were men of unforgiving natures. To Mohammed Reza 
Khan, on the other hand, Hastings had no feelings of hostility. 
Nevertheless he proceeded to execute the instructions of the 
Company with an alacrity which he never showed except when 5 
instructions were in perfect conformity with his own views. 
He had, wisely as we think, determined to get rid of the system 
of double government in Bengal. The orders of the Directors 
furnished him with the means of effecting his purpose and dis- 
pensed him from the necessity of discussing the matter with 10 
his council. He took his measures with his usual vigor and 
dexterity. At midnight the palace of Mohammed Reza Khan 
at Moorshedabad was surrounded by a battalion of sepoys. 
The minister was roused from his slumbers and informed that 
he was a prisoner. With the Mussulman gravity he bent his 15 
head and submitted himself to the will of God. He fell not 
alone. A chief named Schitab Roy had been intrusted with the 
Government of Bahar. His valor and his attachment to the 
English had more than once been signally proved. On that 
memorable day on which the people of Patna saw from their 20 
walls the whole army of the Mogul scattered by the little band 
of Captain Knox, the voice of the British conquerors assigned 
the palm of gallantry to the brave Asiatic. " I never," said 
Knox, when he introduced Schitab Roy, covered with blood 
and dust, to the English functionaries assembled in the factory, 25 
" I never saw a native fight so before." Schitab Roy was in- 
volved in the ruin of Mohammed Reza Khan, was removed 
from office, and was placed under arrest. The members of the 
Council received no intimation of these measures till the pris- 
oners were on their road to Calcutta. 30 

The inquiry into the conduct of the minister was postponed 
on different pretenses. He was detained in an easy confine- 
ment during many months. In the meantime the great revolu- 
tion which Hastings had planned was carried into effect. The 



114 WARREN HASTINGS 

office of minister was abolished. The internal administration 
was transferred to the servants of the Company. A system — 
a very imperfect system, it is true — of civil and criminal 
justice, under English superintendence, was established. The 
5 Nabob was no longer to have even an ostensible share in the 
Government ; but he was still to receive a considerable annual 
allowance and to be surrounded with the state of sovereignty. 
As he was an infant, it was necessary to provide guardians for 
his person and property. His person was intrusted to a lady 

io of his father's harem, known by the name of the Munny Begum. 
The office of treasurer of the household was bestowed on a son 
of Nuncomar, named Goordas. Nuncomar's sendees were 
wanted, yet he could not safely be trusted with power; and 
Hastings thought it a master stroke of policy to reward the 

1 5 able and unprincipled parent by promoting the inoffensive child. 
The revolution completed, the double government dissolved, 
the Company installed in the full sovereignty of Bengal, Hast- 
ings had no motive to treat the late ministers with rigor. Their 
trial had been put off on various pleas till the new organiza- 

20 tion was complete. They were then brought before a com- 
mittee, over which the Governor presided. Schitab Roy was 
speedily acquitted with honor. A formal apology was made to 
him for the restraint to which he had been subjected. All the 
Eastern marks of respect were bestowed on him. He was 

25 clothed in a robe of state, presented with jewels and with a 
richly harnessed elephant, and sent back to his government at 
Patna. But his health had suffered from confinement ; his 
high spirit had been cruelly wounded ; and soon after his libera- 
tion he died of a broken heart. 

30 The innocence of M ohammed Reza Khan was not so clearly 
established. But the Governor was not disposed to deal harshly. 
After a long hearing, in which Nuncomar appeared as the ac- 
cuser, and displayed both the art and the inveterate rancor 
which distinguished him, Hastings pronounced that the charges 



WARREN HASTINGS 115 

had not been made out, and ordered the fallen minister to be 
set at liberty. 

Nuncomar had purposed to destroy the Mussulman adminis- 
tration and to rise on its ruin. Both his malevolence and his 
cupidity had been disappointed. Hastings had made him a 5 
tool, had used him for the purpose of accomplishing the trans- 
fer of the government from Moorshedabad to Calcutta, from 
native to European hands. The rival, the enemy, so long en- 
vied, so implacably persecuted, had been dismissed unhurt. 
The situation so long and ardently desired had been abolished. 10 
It was natural that the Governor should be from that time an 
object of the most intense hatred to the vindictive Brahmin. 
As yet, however, it was necessary to suppress such feelings. 
The time was coming when that long animosity was to end in 
a desperate and deadly struggle. 1 5 

In the meantime Hastings was compelled to turn his atten- 
tion to foreign affairs. The object of his diplomacy was at this 
time simply to get money. The finances of his government 
were in an embarrassed state; and this embarrassment he 
was determined to relieve by some means, fair or foul. The 20 
principle which directed all his dealings with his neighbors is 
fully expressed by the old motto of one of the great predatory 
families of Teviotdale, " Thou shalt want ere I want." He 
seems to have laid it down, as a fundamental proposition 
which could not be disputed, that, when he had not as many 25 
lacs of rupees as the public service required, he was to take 
them from anybody who had. One thing, indeed, is to be said 
in excuse for him. The pressure applied to him by his em- 
ployers at home was such as only the highest virtue could 
have withstood, such as left him no choice except to commit 30 
great wrongs, or to resign his high post, and with that post all 
his hopes of fortune and distinction. The Directors, it is true, 
never enjoined or applauded any crime. Far from it. Whoever 
examines their letters written at that time will find there many 



Il6 WARREN HASTINGS 

just and humane sentiments, many excellent precepts, in short, 
an admirable code of political ethics. But every exhortation 
is modified or nullified by a demand for money. " Govern 
leniently, and send more money ; practise strict justice and mod- 
5 eration towards neighboring powers, and send more money " ; 
this is in truth the sum of almost all the instructions that 
Hastings ever received from home. Now these instructions, 
being interpreted, mean simply, " Be the father and the op- 
pressor of the people ; be just and unjust, moderate and 

10 rapacious." The Directors dealt with India as the church, in 
the good 'old times, dealt with a heretic. They delivered the 
victim over to the executioners, with an earnest request that 
all possible tenderness might be shown. We by no means ac- 
cuse or suspect those who framed these dispatches of hypoc- 

15 risy. It is probable that, writing fifteen thousand miles from 
the place where their orders were to be carried into effect, they 
never perceived the gross inconsistency of which they were 
guilty. But the inconsistency was at once manifest to their 
lieutenant at Calcutta, who, with an empty treasury, with an 

20 unpaid army, with his own salary often in arrear, with deficient 
crops, with government tenants daily running away, was called 
upon to remit home another half million without fail. Hastings 
saw that it was absolutely necessary for him to disregard either 
the moral discourses or the pecuniary requisitions of his em- 

25 ployers. Being forced to disobey them in something, he had to 
consider what kind of disobedience they would most readily 
pardon ; and he correctly judged that the safest course would 
be to neglect the sermons and to find the rupees. 

A mind so fertile as his and so little restrained by con- 

30 scientious scruples speedily discovered several modes of reliev- 
ing the financial embarrassments of the Government. The 
allowance of the Nabob of Bengal was reduced at a stroke 
from three hundred and twenty thousand pounds a year to 
half that sum. The Company had bound itself to pay near 



WARREN HASTINGS 117 

three hundred thousand pounds a year to the great Mogul, as 
a mark of homage for the provinces which he had intrusted to 
their care; and they had ceded to him the districts of Corah 
and Allahabad. On the plea that the Mogul was not really in- 
dependent, but merely a tool in the hands of others, Hastings 5 
determined to retract these concessions. He accordingly de- 
clared that the English would pay no more tribute, and sent 
troops to occupy Allahabad and Corah. The situation of these 
places was such that there would be little advantage and great 
expense in retaining them. Hastings, who wanted money and 10 
not territory, determined to sell them. A purchaser was not 
wanting. The rich province of Oude had, in the general disso- 
lution of the Mogul Empire, fallen to the share of the great 
Mussulman house by which it is still governed. About twenty 
years ago this house, by the permission of the British govern- 15 
ment, assumed the royal title, but in the time of Warren 
Hastings such an assumption would have been considered by 
the Mohammedans of India as a monstrous impiety. The 
Prince of Oude, though he held the power, did not venture to 
use the style of sovereignty. To the appellation of Nabob or 20 
Viceroy he added that of Vizier of the monarchy of Hindostan, 
just as in the last century the Electors of Saxony and Branden- 
burg, though independent of the Emperor and often in arms 
against him, were proud to style themselves his Grand Cham- 
berlain and Grand Marshal. Sujah Dowlah, then Nabob Vizier, 25 
was on excellent terms with the English. He had a large treas- 
ure. Allahabad and Corah were so situated that they might be 
of use to him and could be of none to the Company. The 
buyer and seller soon came to an understanding; and the 
provinces which had been torn from the Mogul were made 30 
over to the Government of Oude for about half a million 
sterling. 

But there was another matter still more important to be 
settled by the Vizier and the Governor. The fate of a brave 



118 WARREN HASTINGS 

people was to be decided. It was decided in a manner which 
has left a lasting stain on the fame of Hastings and of England. 
The people of Central Asia had always been to the inhab- 
itants of India what the warriors of the German forests were 
5 to the subjects of the decaying monarchy of Rome. The dark, 
slender, and timid Hindoo shrank from a conflict with the 
strong muscle and resolute spirit of the fair race which dwelt 
beyond the passes. There is reason to believe that, at a period 
anterior to the dawn of regular history, the people who spoke 

J o the rich and flexible Sanskrit came from regions lying far be- 
yond the Hyphasis and the Hystaspes, and imposed their yoke 
on the children of the soil. It is certain that, during the last 
ten centuries, a succession of invaders descended from the west 
on Hindostan ; nor was the course of conquest ever turned back 

15 towards the setting sun till that memorable campaign in which 

the cross of Saint George was planted on the walls of Ghizni. 

The Emperors of Hindostan themselves came from the 

other side of the great mountain ridge; and it had always 

been their practice to recruit their army from the hardy and 

20 valiant race from which their own illustrious house sprang. 
Among the military adventurers who were allured to the 
Mogul standards from the neighborhood of Cabul and Can- 
dahar were conspicuous several gallant bands, known by the 
name of the Rohillas. Their services had been rewarded with 

25 large tracts of land — fiefs of the spear, if we may use an expres- 
sion drawn from an analogous state of things, — in that fertile 
plain through which the Ramgunga flows from the snowy 
heights of Kumaon to join the Ganges. In the general con- 
fusion which followed the death of Aurungzebe the warlike 

30 colony became virtually independent. The Rohillas were dis- 
tinguished from the other inhabitants of India by a peculiarly 
fair complexion. They were more honorably distinguished by 
courage in war and by skill in the arts of peace. While anarchy 
raged from Lahore to Cape Comorin, their little territory 



WARREN HASTINGS 1 19 

enjoyed the blessings of repose under the guardianship of valor. 
Agriculture and commerce flourished among them ; nor were 
they negligent of rhetoric and poetry. Many persons now 
living have heard aged men talk with regret of the golden 
days when the Afghan prjnces ruled in the vale of Rohilcund. 5 

Sujah Dowlah had set his heart on adding this rich district 
to his own principality. Right, or show of right, he had abso- 
lutely none. His claim was in no respect better founded than 
that of Catherine to Poland, or that of the Bonaparte family to 
Spain. The Rohillas held their country by exactly the same 10 
title by which he held his, and had governed their country far 
better than his had ever been governed. Nor were they a 
people whom it was perfectly safe to attack. Their land was 
indeed an open plain, destitute of natural defenses ; but their 
veins were full of the high blood of Afghanistan. As soldiers 1 5 
they had not the steadiness which is seldom found except in 
company with strict discipline ; but their impetuous valor had 
been proved on many fields of battle. It was said that their 
chiefs, when united by common peril, could bring eighty 
thousand men into the field. Sujah Dowlah had himself seen 20 
them fight, and wisely shrank from a conflict with them. There 
was in India one army, and only one, against which even those 
proud Caucasian tribes could not stand. It had been abundantly 
proved that neither tenfold odds nor the martial ardor of the 
boldest Asiatic nations could avail aught against English science 25 
and resolution. Was it possible to induce the Governor of 
Bengal to let out to hire the irresistible energies of the imperial 
people, the skill against which the ablest chiefs of Hindostan 
were helpless as infants, the discipline which had so often 
triumphed over the frantic struggles of fanaticism and despair, 30 
the unconquerable British courage which is never so sedate and 
stubborn as towards the close of a doubtful and murderous day ? 

This was what the Nabob Vizier asked, and what Hastings 
granted. A bargain was soon struck. Each of the negotiators 



120 WARREN HASTINGS 

had what the other wanted. Hastings was in need of funds to 
carry on the Government of Bengal and to send remittances to 
London ; and Sujah Dowlah had an ample revenue. Sujah 
Dowlah was bent on subjugating the Rohillas ; and Hastings 
5 had at his disposal the only force by which the Rohillas could 
be subjugated. It was agreed that an English army should be 
lent to the Nabob Vizier, and that, for the loan, he should pay 
four hundred thousand pounds sterling, besides defraying all 
the charge of the troops while employed in his service. 

10 " I really cannot see," says the Reverend Mr. Gleig, " upon 
what grounds, either of political or moral justice, this proposition 
deserves to be stigmatized as infamous." If we understand the 
meaning of words, it is infamous to commit a wicked action for 
hire, and it is wicked to engage in war without provocation. In 

15 this particular war scarcely one aggravating circumstance was 
wanting. The object of the Rohilla war was this, to deprive a 
large population, who had never done us the least harm, of a 
good government, and to place them, against their will, under 
an execrably bad one. Nay, even this is not all. England now 

20 descended far below the level even of those petty German princes 
who, about the same time, sold us troops to fight the Americans. 
The hussarmongers of , Hesse and Anspach had at least the 
assurance that the expeditions on which their soldiers were to 
be employed would be conducted in conformity with the humane 

25 rules of civilized warfare. Was the Rohilla war likely to be so 
conducted ? Did the Governor stipulate that it should be so 
conducted ? He well knew what Indian warfare was. He well 
knew that the power which he covenanted to put into Sujah 
Dowlah's hands would, in all probability, be atrociously abused ; 

30 and he required no guarantee, no promise that it should not be 
so abused. He did not even reserve to himself the right of 
withdrawing his aid in case of abuse, however gross. Mr. Gleig 
repeats Major Scott's absurd plea, that Hastings was justified in 
letting out English troops to slaughter the Rohillas, because the 



WARREN HASTINGS 121 

Rohillas were not of Indian race, but a colony from a distant 
country. What were the English themselves ? Was it for them to 
proclaim a crusade for the expulsion of all intruders from the 
countries watered by the Ganges ? Did it lie in their mouths to 
contend that a foreign settler who establishes' an empire in India 5 
is a caput lupinum ? What would they have said if any other 
power had, on such a ground, attacked Madras or Calcutta, 
without the slightest provocation ? Such a defense was wanting 
to make the infamy of the transaction complete. The atrocity 
of the crime and the hypocrisy of the apology are worthy of 10 
each other. 

One of the three brigades of which the Bengal army con- 
sisted was sent under Colonel Champion to join Sujah Dowlah's 
forces. The Rohillas expostulated, entreated, offered a large 
ransom, but in vain. They then resolved to defend themselves 15 
to the last. A bloody battle was fought. " The enemy," says 
Colonel Champion, "gave proof of a good share of military 
knowledge; and it is impossible to describe a more obstinate 
firmness of resolution than they displayed." The dastardly 
sovereign of Oude fled from the field. The English were left 20 
unsupported ; but their fire and their charge were irresistible. 
It was not, however, till the most distinguished chiefs had fallen, 
fighting bravely at the head of their troops, that the Rohilla 
ranks gave way. Then the Nabob Vizier and his rabble made 
their appearance and hastened to plunder the camp of the val- 25 
iant enemies, whom they had never dared to look in the face. 
The soldiers of the Company, trained in an exact discipline, 
kept unbroken order, while the tents were pillaged by these 
worthless allies. But many voices were heard to exclaim, 
"We have had all the fighting, and those rogues are to 30 
have all the profit." 

Then the horrors of Indian war were let loose on the fair 
valleys and cities of Rohilcund. The whole country was in 
a blaze. More than a hundred thousand people fled from their 



122 WARREN HASTINGS 

r> homes to pestilential jungles, preferring famine, and fever, 
and the haunts of tigers, to the tyranny of him, to whom an 
English and a Christian government had, for shameful lucre, sold 
their substance, and their blood, and the honor of their wives 
5 and daughters. Colonel Champion remonstrated with the Nabob 
Vizier and sent strong representations to Fort William ; but the 
Governor had made no conditions as to the mode in which the 
war was to be carried on. He had troubled himself about 
nothing but his forty lacs ; and though he might disapprove of 

io Sujah Dowlah's wanton barbarity, he did not think himself 
entitled to interfere, except by offering advice. This delicacy ex- 
cites the admiration of the reverend biographer. " Mr. Hastings," 
he says, " could not himself dictate to the Nabob, nor permit 
the commander of the Company's troops to dictate how the war 

15 was to be carried on." No, to be sure. Mr. Hastings had only 
to put down by main force the brave struggles of innocent men 
fighting for their liberty. Their military resistance crushed, his 
duties ended ; and he had then only to fold his arms and look 
on, while their villages were burned, their children butchered, 

20 and their women violated. Will Mr. Gleig seriously maintain 
this opinion ? Is any rule more plain than this, that whoever 
voluntarily gives to another irresistible power over human beings, 
is bound to take order that such power shall not be barbarously 
abused ? But we beg pardon of our readers for arguing a point 

25 so clear. 

We hasten to the end of this sad and disgraceful story. The 
war ceased. The finest population in India was subjected to 
a greedy, cowardly, cruel tyrant. Commerce and agriculture 
languished. The rich province which had tempted the cupidity 

30 of Sujah Dowlah became the most miserable part even of his 
miserable dominions. Yet is the injured nation not extinct. At 
long intervals gleams of its ancient spirit have flashed forth ; 
and even at this day valor, and self-respect, and a chivalrous 
feeling rare among Asiatics, and a bitter remembrance of the 



WARREN HASTINGS 1 23 

great crime of England, distinguish that noble Afghan race. To 
this day they are regarded as the best of all sepoys at the cold 
steel; and it was very recently remarked, by one who had 
enjoyed great opportunities of observation, that the only natives 
of India to whom the word " gentleman " can with perfect pro- 5 
priety be applied are to be found among the Rohillas. 

Whatever we may think of the morality of Hastings, it cannot 
be denied that the financial results of his policy did honor to his 
talents. In less than two years after he assumed the govern- 
ment, he had, without imposing any additional burdens on the 10 
people subject to his authority, added about four hundred and 
fifty thousand pounds to the annual income of the Company, 
besides procuring about a million in ready money. He had 
also relieved the finances of Bengal from military expenditure, 
amounting to near a quarter of a million a year, and had thrown 1 5 
that charge on the Nabob of Oude. There can be no doubt 
that this was a result which, if it had been obtained by. honest 
means, would have entitled him to the warmest gratitude of his 
country, and which, by whatever means obtained, proved that 
he possessed great talents for administration. 20 

In the meantime Parliament had been engaged in long 
and grave discussions on Asiatic affairs. The ministry of Lord 
North, in the session of 1773, introduced a measure which made 
a considerable change in the constitution of the Indian Govern- 
ment. This law, known by the name of the Regulating Act, 25 
provided that the presidency of Bengal should exercise a. control 
over the other possessions of the Company ; that the chief of 
that presidency should be styled Governor-General ; that he 
should be assisted by four Councilors ; and that a supreme court 
of judicature, consisting of a chief justice and three inferior 30 
judges, should be established at Calcutta. This court was made 
independent of the Governor-General and Council, and was 
intrusted with a civil and criminal jurisdiction of immense, and, 
at the same time, of undefined extent. 



124 WARREN HASTINGS 

The Governor-General and Councilors were named in the act, 
and were to hold their situations for five years. Hastings was 
to be the first Governor-General. One of the four new Coun- 
cilors, Mr. Barwell, an experienced servant of the Company, 
5 was then in India. The other three, General Clavering, Mr. 
Monson, and Mr. Francis, were sent out from England. 

The ablest of the new Councilors wa's, beyond all doubt, 
Philip Francis. His acknowledged compositions prove that he 
possessed considerable eloquence and information. Several 

10 years passed in the public offices had formed him to habits of 
business. His enemies have never denied that he had a fearless 
and manly spirit ; and his friends, we are afraid, must acknowl- 
edge that his estimate of himself was extravagantly high, that 
his temper was irritable, that his deportment was often rude 

15 and petulant, and that his hatred was of intense bitterness and 
of long duration. 

It is scarcely possible to mention this eminent man without 
adverting for a moment to the question which his name at once 
suggests to every mind. Was he the author of the " Letters of 

20 Junius " ? Our own firm belief is that he was. The evidence is, 
we think, such as would support a verdict in a civil, nay, in a 
criminal proceeding. The handwriting of Junius is the very 
peculiar handwriting of Francis, slightly disguised. As to the 
position, pursuits, and connections of Junius, the following are 

25 the most important facts which can be considered as clearly 
proved : first, that he was acquainted with the technical forms 
of the secretary of state's office ; secondly, that he was inti- 
mately acquainted with the business of the war office ; thirdly, 
that he, during the year 1770, attended debates in the House of 

30 Lords, and took notes of speeches, particularly of the speeches 
of Lord Chatham ; fourthly, that he bitterly resented the ap- 
pointment of Mr. Chamier to the place of deputy secretary at 
war; fifthly, that he was bound by some strong tie to the 
first Lord Holland. Now Francis passed some years in the 



WARREN HASTINGS 125 

secretary of state's office. He was subsequently chief clerk of 
the war office. He repeatedly mentioned that he had himself, 
in 1770, heard speeches of Lord Chatham, and some of these 
speeches were actually printed from his notes. He resigned his 
clerkship at the war office from resentment at the appointment 5 
of Mr. Chamier. It was by Lord Holland that he was first in- 
troduced into the public service. Now here are five marks, all 
of which ought to be found in Junius. They are all five found 
in Francis. We do not believe that more than two of them can 
be found in any other person whatever. If this argument does 10 
not settle the question, there is an end of all reasoning on cir- 
cumstantial evidence. 

The internal evidence seems to us to point the same way. 
The style of Francis bears a strong resemblance to that of 
Junius ; nor are we disposed to admit — what is generally taken 1 5 
for granted — that the acknowledged compositions of Francis are 
very decidedly inferior to the anonymous letters. The argument 
from inferiority, at all events, is one which may be urged with 
at least equal force against every claimant that has ever been 
mentioned, with the single exception of Burke ; and it would 20 
be a waste of time to prove that Burke was not Junius. And 
what conclusion, after all, can be drawn from mere inferiority ? 
Every writer must produce his best work ; and the interval 
between his best work and his second-best work may be very 
wide indeed. Nobody will say that the best letters of Junius are 25 
more decidedly superior to the acknowledged works of Francis 
than three or four of Corneille's tragedies to the rest, than three 
or four of Ben Jonson's comedies to the rest, than the " Pil- 
grim's Progress " to the other works of Bunyan, than " Don 
Quixote " to the other works of Cervantes. Nay, it is certain 30 
that the Man in the Mask, whoever he may have been, was a 
most unequal writer. To go no further than the letters which 
bear the signature of Junius, the letter to the king and the letters 
to Home Tooke have little in common except the asperity, and 



126 WARREN HASTINGS 

asperity was an ingredient seldom wanting either in the writings 
or in the speeches of Francis. 

Indeed, one of the strongest reasons for believing that Francis 
was Junius is the moral resemblance between the two men. It 
5 is not difficult, from the letters which, under various signatures 
are known to have been written by Junius, and from his deal- 
ings with Woodfall and others, to form a tolerably correct notion 
of his character. He was clearly a man not destitute of real 
patriotism and magnanimity, a man whose vices were not of a 

10 sordid kind. But he must also have been a man in the highest 
degree arrogant and insolent, a man prone to malevolence, and 
prone to the error of mistaking his malevolence for public 
virtue. " Doest thou well to be angry ? " was the question asked 
in old time of the Hebrew prophet. And he answered, " I do 

15 well." This was evidently the temper of Junius, and to this 
cause we attribute the savage cruelty which disgraces several of 
his letters. No man is so merciless as he who, under a strong 
self-delusion, confounds his antipathies with his duties. It may 
be added that Junius, though allied with the democratic party 

20 by common enmities, was the very opposite of a democratic 
politician. While attacking individuals with a ferocity which 
perpetually violated all the laws of literary warfare, he regarded 
the most defective parts of old institutions with a respect amount- 
ing to pedantry, pleaded the cause of Old Sarum with fervor, 

25 and contemptuously told the capitalists of Manchester and Leeds 
that, if they wanted votes, they might buy land and become 
freeholders of Lancashire and Yorkshire. All this, we believe, 
might stand, with scarcely any change, for a character of 
Philip Francis. 

30 It is not strange that the great anonymous writer should have 
been willing at that time to leave the country which had been 
so powerfully stirred by his eloquence. Everything had gone 
against him. That party which he clearly preferred to every 
other, the party of George Grenville, had been scattered by the 



WARREN HASTINGS 1 27 

death of its chief; and Lord Suffolk had led the greater part 
of it over to the ministerial benches. The ferment produced by 
the Middlesex election had gone down. Every faction must 
have been alike an object of aversion to Junius. His opinions 
on domestic affairs separated him from the ministry ; his 5 
opinions on colonial affairs from the opposition. Under such 
circumstances he had thrown down his pen in misanthropical 
despair. His farewell letter to Woodfall bears date the nineteenth 
of January, 1773. In that letter he declared that he must be 
an idiot to write again ; that he had meant well by the cause and 10 
the public ; that both were given up ; that there were not ten men 
who would act steadily together on any question. " But it is all 
alike," he added, " vile and contemptible. You have never 
flinched that I know of ; and I shall always rejoice to hear of 
your prosperity." These were the'last words of Junius. In a year 15 
from that time Philip Francis was on his voyage to Bengal. 

With three new Councilors came out the judges of the Su- 
preme Court. The chief justice was Sir Elijah Impey. He was 
an old acquaintance of Hastings ; and it is probable that the 
Governor-General, if he had searched through all the inns of 20 
court, could not have found an equally serviceable tool. But 
the members of Council were by no means in an obsequious 
mood. Hastings greatly disliked the new form of government, 
and had no very high opinion of his coadjutors. They had heard 
of this, and were disposed to be suspicious and punctilious. 25 
When men are in such a frame of mind, any trifle is sufficient 
to give occasion for dispute. The members of Council expected 
a salute of twenty-one guns from the batteries of Fort William. 
Hastings allowed them only seventeen. They landed in ill 
humor. The first civilities were exchanged with cold reserve. 30 
On the morrow commenced that long quarrel which, after dis- 
tracting British India, was renewed in England, and in which 
all the most eminent statesmen and orators of the age took 
active part on one or the other side. 



128 WARREN HASTINGS 

Hastings was supported by Barwell. They had not always 
been friends. But the arrival of the new members of Council 
from England naturally had the effect of uniting the old servants 
of the Company. Clavering, Monson, and Francis formed the 
5 majority. They instantly wrested the government out of the 
hands of Hastings ; condemned, certainly not without justice, 
his late dealings with the Nabob Vizier ; recalled the English 
agent from Oude, and sent thither a creature of their own ; 
ordered the brigade which had conquered the unhappy Rohillas 

io to return to the Company's territories ; and instituted a severe 
inquiry into the conduct of the war. Next, in spite of the 
Governor-General's remonstrances, they proceeded to exercise, 
in the most indiscreet manner, their new authority over the sub- 
ordinate presidencies ; threw all the affairs of Bombay into 

15 confusion; and interfered, with an incredible union of rashness 
and feebleness, in the intestine disputes of the Mahratta Govern- 
ment. At the same time they fell on the internal administration 
of Bengal and attacked the whole fiscal and judicial system, a 
system which was undoubtedly defective, but which it was 

20 very improbable that gentlemen fresh from England would be 
competent to amend. The effect of their reforms was that all 
protection to life and property was withdrawn, and that gangs 
of robbers plundered and slaughtered with impunity in the very 
suburbs of Calcutta. Hastings continued to live in the Govern- 

25 ment House and to draw the salary of Governor-General. He 
continued even to take the lead at the council-board in the trans- 
action of ordinary business ; for his opponents could not but 
feel that he knew much of which they were ignorant, and that 
he decided, both surely and speedily, many questions which to 

30 them would have been hopelessly puzzling. But the higher 
powers of government and the most valuable patronage had 
been taken from him. 

The natives soon found this out. They considered him as a 
fallen man ; and they acted after their kind. Some of our 



WARREN HASTINGS 1 29 

readers may have seen, in India, a cloud of crows pecking a 
sick vulture to death, — no bad type of what happens in that 
country as often as fortune deserts one who has been great 
and dreaded. In an instant all the sycophants who had lately 
been ready to lie for him, to forge for him, to pander for him, 5 
to poison for him, hasten to purchase the favor of his victorious 
enemies by accusing him. An Indian government has only to 
let it be understood that it wishes a particular man to be ruined ; 
and in twenty-four hours it will be furnished with grave charges, 
supported by depositions so full and circumstantial that any 10 
person unaccustomed to Asiatic mendacity would regard them 
as decisive. It is well if the signature of the destined victim is 
not counterfeited at the foot of some illegal compact, and if 
some treasonable paper is not slipped into a hiding place in his 
house. Hastings was now regarded as helpless. The power to 15 
make or mar the fortune of every man in Bengal had passed, 
as it seemed, into the hands of the new Councilors. Imme- 
diately charges against the Governor-General began to pour in. 
They were eagerly welcomed by the majority, who, to do them 
justice, were men of too much honor knowingly to countenance 20 
false accusations, but who were not sufficiently acquainted with 
the East to be aware that, in that part of the world, a very little 
encouragement from power will call forth, in a week, more 
Oateses, and Bedloes, and Dangerfields, than Westminster Hall 
sees in a century. 25 

It would have been strange indeed if, at such a juncture, 
Nuncomar had remained quiet. That bad man was stimulated 
at once by malignity, by avarice, and by ambition. Now was the 
time to be avenged on his old enemy, to wreak a grudge of 
seventeen years, to establish himself in the favor of the majority 30 
of the Council, to become the greatest native in Bengal. From 
the time of the arrival of the new Councilors, he had paid the 
most marked court to them, and had in consequence been ex- 
cluded, with all indignity, from the Government House. He now 



130 WARREN HASTINGS 

put into the hands of Francis, with great ceremony, a paper con- 
taining several charges of the most serious description. By this 
document Hastings was accused of putting offices up to sale, 
and of receiving bribes for suffering offenders to escape. In 
5 particular it was alleged that Mohammed Reza Khan had been 
dismissed with impunity, in consideration of a great sum paid 
to the Governor-General. 

Francis read the paper in Council. A violent altercation 
followed. Hastings complained in bitter terms of the way in 

io which he was treated, spoke with contempt of Nuncomar and 
of Nuncomar's accusation, and denied the right of the Council 
to sit in judgment on the Governor. At the next meeting of 
the Board another communication from Nuncomar was pro- 
duced. He requested that he might be permitted to attend the 

1 5 Council, and that he might be heard in support of his assertions. 
Another tempestuous debate took place. The Governor-General 
maintained that the council room was not a proper place for 
such an investigation ; that from persons who were heated by 
daily conflict with him he could not expect the fairness of judges ; 

20 and that he could not, without betraying the dignity of his post, 
submit to be confronted with such a man as Nuncomar. The 
majority, however, resolved to go into the charges. Hastings 
rose, declared the sitting at an end, and left the room, followed 
by Barwell. The other members kept their seats, voted them- 

25 selves a Council, put Clavering in the chair, and ordered Nun- 
comar to be called in. Nuncomar not only adhered to the original 
charges, but, after the fashion of the East, produced a large 
supplement. He stated that Hastings had received a great sum 
for appointing Rajah Goordas treasurer of the Nabob's house- 

30 hold, and for committing the care of his Highness's person to the 
Munny Begum. He put in a letter purporting to bear the seal of 
the Munny Begum, for the purpose of establishing the truth of 
his story. The seal, whether forged, as Hastings affirmed, or 
genuine, as we are rather inclined to believe, proved nothing. 



WARREN HASTINGS 131 

Nuncomar, as everybody knows who knows India, had only to 
tell the Munny Begum that such a letter would give pleasure to 
the majority of the Council, in order to procure her attestation. 
The majority, however, voted that the charge was made out ; 
that Hastings had corruptly received between thirty and forty 5 
thousand pounds ; and that he ought to be compelled to refund. 

The general feeling among the English in Bengal was strongly 
in favor of the Governor-General. In talents for business, in 
knowledge of the country, in general courtesy of demeanor, he 
was decidedly superior to his persecutors. The servants of the 10 
Company were naturally disposed to side with the most dis- 
tinguished member of their own body against a clerk from the 
war office, who, profoundly ignorant of the native languages 
and the native character, took on himself to regulate every de- 
partment of the administration. Hastings, however, in spite of 15 
the general sympathy of his countrymen, was in a most painful 
situation. There was still an appeal to higher authority in 
England. If that authority took part with his enemies, nothing 
was left to him but to throw up his office. He accordingly 
placed his resignation in the hands of his agent in London, 20 
Colonel Macleane. But Macleane was instructed not to produce 
the resignation unless it should be fully ascertained that the 
feeling at the India House was adverse to the Governor-General. 

The triumph of Nuncomar seemed to be complete. He held 
a daily levee,, to which his countrymen resorted in crowds, and 25 
to which, on one occasion, the majority of the Council con- 
descended to repair. His house was an office for the purpose of 
receiving charges against the Governor-General. It was said that, 
partly by threats and partly by wheedling, the villainous Brahmin 
had induced many of the wealthiest men of the province to send 30 
in complaints. But he was playing a perilous game. It was not 
safe to drive to despair a man of such resources and of such de- 
termination as Hastings. Nuncomar, with all his acuteness, did 
not understand the nature of the institutions under which he 



132 WARREN HASTINGS 

lived. He saw that he had with him the majority of the body 
which made treaties, gave places, raised taxes. The separation 
between political and judicial functions was a thing of which he 
had no conception. It had probably never occurred to him that 
5 there was in Bengal an authority perfectly independent of the 
Council, an authority which could protect one whom the Council 
wished to destroy, and send to the gibbet one whom the Council 
wished to protect. Yet such was the fact. The Supreme Court 
was, within the sphere of its own duties, altogether independent 

10 of the Government. Hastings, with his usual sagacity, had seen 
how much advantage he might derive from possessing himself 
of this stronghold ; and he had acted accordingly. The judges, 
especially the Chief Justice, were hostile to the majority of the 
Council. The time had now come for putting this formidable 

15 machinery into action. 

On a sudden Calcutta was astounded by the news that 
Nuncomar had been taken up on a charge of felony, committed, 
and thrown into the common jail. The crime imputed to him 
was that six years before he had forged a bond. The ostensible 

20 prosecutor was a native. But it was then, and still is, the opinion 
of everybody, idiots and biographers excepted, that Hastings 
was the real mover in the business. 

The rage of the majority rose to the highest point. They 
protested against the proceedings of the Supreme Court, and 

25 sent several urgent messages to the judges, demanding that 
Nuncomar should be admitted to bail. The judges returned 
haughty and resolute answers. All that the Council could do 
was to heap honors and emoluments on the family of Nuncomar; 
and this they did. In the meantime the assizes commenced ; a 

30 true bill was found; and Nuncomar was brought before Sir 
Elijah Impey and a jury composed of Englishmen. A great 
quantity of contradictory swearing and the necessity of having 
every word of the evidence interpreted, protracted the trial 
to a most unusual length. At last a verdict of guilty was 



WARREN HASTINGS 1 33 

returned, and the Chief Justice pronounced sentence of death 
on the prisoner. 

Mr. Gleig is so strangely ignorant as to imagine that the 
judges had no further discretion in the case, and that the power 
of extending mercy to Nuncomar resided with the Council. He 5 
therefore throws on Francis and Francis's party the whole blame 
of what followed. We should have thought that a gentleman 
who has published five or six bulky volumes on Indian affairs 
might have taken the trouble to inform himself as to the funda- 
mental principles of the Indian Government. The Supreme 10 
Court had, under the Regulating Act, the power to -respite 
criminals till the pleasure of the Crown should be known. The 
Council had, at that time, no power to interfere. 

That Impey ought to have respited Nuncomar we hold to be 
perfectly clear. Whether the whole proceeding was not illegal, 15 
is a question. But it is certain that, whatever may have been, 
according to technical rules of construction, the effect of the 
statute under which the trial took place, it was most unjust to 
hang a Hindoo for forgery. The law which made forgery 
capital in England was passed without the smallest reference to 20 
the state of society in India. It was unknown to the natives of 
India. It had never been put in execution among them, certainly 
not for want of delinquents. It was in the highest degree shock- 
ing to all their notions. They were not accustomed to the dis- 
tinction which many circumstances, peculiar to our own state of 25 
society, have led us to make between forgery and other kinds 
of cheating. The counterfeiting of a seal was, in their estima- 
tion, a common act of swindling ; nor had it ever crossed their 
minds that it was to be punished as severely as gang robbery or 
assassination. A just judge would, beyond all doubt, have re- 30 
served the case for the consideration of the sovereign. But 
Impey would not hear of mercy or delay. 

The excitement among all classes was great. Francis and 
Francis's few English adherents described the Governor-General 



134 WARREN HASTINGS 

and the Chief Justice as the worst of murderers. Clavering, it 
was said, swore that, even at the foot of the gallows, Nuncomar 
should be rescued. The bulk of the European society, though 
strongly attached to the Governor-General, could not but feel 
5 compassion for a man who, with all his crimes, had so long filled 
so large a space in their sight, who had been great and powerful 
before the British empire in India began to exist, and to whom, 
in the old times, governors and members of Council, then mere 
commercial factors, had paid court for protection. The feeling 

io of the Hindoos was infinitely stronger. They were, indeed, not 
a people to strike one blow for their countryman. But his 
sentence filled them with sorrow and dismay. Tried even by 
their low standard of morality, he was a bad man. But, bad as 
he was, he was the head of their race and religion, a Brahmin of 

15 the Brahmins. He had inherited the purest and highest caste. 
He had practiced with the greatest punctuality all those cere- 
monies to which the superstitious Bengalese ascribe far more im- 
portance than to the correct discharge of the social duties. They 
felt, therefore, as a devout Catholic in the dark ages would have 

20 felt at seeing a prelate of the highest dignity sent to the gallows 
by a secular tribunal. According to their old national laws a 
Brahmin could not be put to death for any crime whatever. 
And the crime for which Nuncomar was about to die was 
regarded by them in much the same light in which the selling 

25 of an unsound horse for a sound price is regarded by a York- 
shire jockey. 

The Mussulmans alone appear to have seen with exultation 
the fate of the powerful Hindoo who had attempted to rise by 
means of the ruin of Mohammed Reza Khan. The Moham- 

30 medan historian of those times takes delight in aggravating the 
charge. He assures us that in Nuncomar's house a casket was 
found containing counterfeits of the seals of all the richest men 
of the province. We have never fallen in with any other author- 
ity for this story, which in itself is by no means improbable. 



WARREN HASTINGS 1 35 

The day drew near ; and Nuncomar prepared himself to die 
with that quiet fortitude with which the Bengalese, so effeminately 
timid in personal conflict, often encounters calamities for which 
there is no remedy. The sheriff, with the humanity which is 
seldom wanting in an English gentleman, visited the prisoner 5 
on the eve of the execution, and assured him that no indulgence, 
consistent with the law, should be refused to him. Nuncomar 
expressed his gratitude with great politeness and unaltered com- 
posure. Not a muscle of his face moved. Not a sigh broke 
from him. He put his finger to his forehead, and calmly said 10 
that fate would have its way and that there was no resisting the 
pleasure of God. He sent his compliments to Francis, Clavering, 
and Monson, and charged them to protect Rajah Goordas, 
who was about to become the head of the Brahmins of Bengal. 
The sheriff withdrew, greatly agitated by what had passed, and 15 
Nuncomar sat composedly down to write notes and examine 
accounts. 

The next morning, before the sun was in his power, an im- 
mense concourse assembled round the place where the gallows 
had been set up. Grief and horror were on every face ; yet to 20 
the last the multitude could hardly believe that the English 
really purposed to take the life of the great Brahmin. At length 
the mournful procession came through the crowd. Nuncomar 
sat up in his palanquin and looked round him with unaltered 
serenity. He had just parted from those who were most nearly 25 
connected with him. Their cries and contortions had appalled 
the European ministers of justice, but had not produced the 
smallest effect on the iron stoicism of the prisoner. The only 
anxiety which he expressed was that men of his own priestly 
caste might be in attendance to take charge of his corpse. He 30 
again desired to be remembered to his friends in the Council, 
mounted the scaffold with firmness, and gave the signal to the 
executioner. The moment that the drop fell, a howl of sorrow 
and despair rose from the innumerable spectators. Hundreds 



136 WARREN HASTINGS 

turned away their faces from the polluting sight, fled with loud 
wailings towards the Hoogley, and plunged into its holy waters, 
as if to purify themselves ^from the guilt of having looked on 
such a crime. These feelings were not confined to Calcutta. 
5 The whole province was greatly excited ; and the population of 
Dacca, in particular, gave strong signs of grief and dismay. 

Of Impey's conduct it is impossible to speak too severely. 
We have already said that, in our opinion, he acted unjustly in 
refusing to respite Nuncomar. No rational man can doubt that 

10 he took this course in order to gratify the Governor-General. 
If we had ever had any doubts on that point, they would have 
been dispelled by a letter which Mr. Gleig has published. 
Hastings, three or four years later, described Impey as the man 
" to whose support he was at one time indebted for the safety of 

15 his fortune, honor, and reputation." These strong words can 
refer only to the case of Nuncomar ; and they must mean that 
Impey hanged Nuncomar in order to support Hastings. It is, 
therefore, our deliberate opinion that Impey, sitting as a judge, 
put a man unjustly to death in order to serve a political purpose. 

26 But we look on the conduct of Hastings in a somewhat 
different light. He was struggling for fortune, honor, liberty, — 
all that makes life valuable. He was beset by rancorous and 
unprincipled enemies. From his colleagues he could expect no 
justice. He cannot be blamed for wishing to crush his accusers. 

25 He was indeed bound to use only legitimate means for that end. 
But it was not strange that he should have thought any means 
legitimate which were pronounced legitimate by the sages of the 
law, — by men whose peculiar duty it was to deal justly between 
adversaries, and whose education might be supposed to have 

30 peculiarly qualified them for the discharge of that duty. Nobody 
demands from a party the unbending equity of a judge. The 
reason that judges are appointed is, that even a good man 
cannot be trusted to decide a cause in which he is himself con- 
cerned. Not a day passes on which an honest prosecutor does 



WARREN HASTINGS I 37 

not ask for what none but a dishonest tribunal would grant. It 
is too much to expect that any man, when his dearest interests 
are at stake and his strongest passions excited, will, as against 
himself, be more just than the sworn dispensers of justice. To 
take an analogous case from the history of our own island : 5 
suppose that Lord Stafford, when in the Tower on suspicion of 
being concerned in the Popish plot, had been apprised that 
Titus Oates had done something which might, by a questionable 
construction, be brought under the head of felony. Should we 
severely blame Lord Stafford, in the supposed case, for causing 10 
a prosecution to be instituted, for furnishing funds, for using all 
his influence to intercept the mercy of the Crown ? We think 
not. If a judge, indeed, from favor to the Catholic lords, were 
to strain the law in order to hang Oates, such a judge would 
richly deserve impeachment. But it does not appear to us that 15 
the Catholic lord, by bringing the case before the judge for deci- 
sion, would materially overstep the limits of a just self-defense. 
While, therefore, we have not the least doubt that this mem- 
orable execution is to be attributed to Hastings, we doubt 
whether it can with justice be reckoned among his crimes. That 20 
his conduct was dictated by a profound policy is evident. He 
was in a minority in Council. It was possible that he might long 
be in a minority. He knew the native character well. He knew 
in what abundance accusations are certain to flow in against the 
most innocent inhabitant of India who is under the frown of 25 
power. There was not in the whole black population of Bengal 
a place holder, a place hunter, a Government tenant, who did 
not think that he might better himself by sending up a deposi- 
tion against the Governor-General. Under these circumstances 
the persecuted statesman resolved to teach the whole crew of 30 
accusers and witnesses that, though in a minority at the council- 
board, he was still to be feared. The lesson which he gave 
them was indeed a lesson not to be forgotten. The head of the 
combination which had been formed against him, the richest, 



138 WARREN HASTINGS 

the most powerful, the most artful of the Hindoos, distinguished 
by the favor of those who then held the government, fenced 
round by the superstitious reverence of millions, was hanged in 
broad day before many thousands of people. Everything that 
5 could make the warning impressive, dignity in the sufferer, 
solemnity in the proceeding, was found in this case. The help- 
less rage and vain struggles of the Council made the triumph 
more signal. From that moment the conviction of every native 
was that it was safer to take the part of Hastings in a minority 

10 than that of Francis in a majority, and that he who was so 
venturous as to join in running down the Governor-General 
might chance, in the phrase of the Eastern poet, to find a tiger, 
while beating the jungle for a deer. The voices of a thousand 
informers were silenced in an instant. From that time, what- 

15 ever difficulty Hastings might have to encounter, he was never 
molested by accusations of natives of India. 

It is a remarkable circumstance that one of the letters of 
Hastings to Dr. Johnson bears date a very few hours after the 
death of Nuncomar. While the whole settlement was in commo- 

20 tion, while a mighty and ancient priesthood were weeping over 
the remains of their chief, the conqueror in that deadly grapple 
sat down, with characteristic self-possession, to write about the 
" Tour to the Hebrides," Jones's " Persian Grammar," and the 
history, traditions, arts, and natural productions of India. 

25 In the meantime intelligence of the Rohilla war, and of the 
first disputes between Hastings and his colleagues, had reached 
London. The Directors took part with the majority, and sent 
out a letter filled with severe reflections on the conduct of 
Hastings. They condemned, in strong but just terms, the iniquity 

30 of undertaking offensive wars merely for the sake of pecuniary 
advantages. But they utterly forgot that, if Hastings had by 
illicit means obtained pecuniary advantages, he had done so, not 
for his own benefit, but in order to meet their demands. To 
enjoin honesty and to insist on having what could not be 



WARREN HASTINGS I 39 

honestly got, was then the constant practice of the Company. 
As Lady Macbeth says of her husband, they " would not play 
false, and yet would wrongly win." 

The Regulating Act, by which Hastings had been appointed 
Governor-General for five years, empowered the Crown to 5 
remove him on an address from the Company. Lord North 
was desirous to procure such an address. The three members 
of Council who had been sent out from England were men of 
his own choice. General Clavering, in particular, was supported 
by a large parliamentary connection, such as no cabinet could 10 
be inclined to disoblige. The wish of the Minister was to dis- 
place Hastings and to put Clavering at the head of the Govern- 
ment. In the Court of Directors parties were very nearly 
balanced. Eleven voted against Hastings, ten for him. The 
Court of Proprietors was then convened. The great salesroom 15 
presented a singular appearance. Letters had been sent by 
the Secretary of the Treasury, exhorting all the supporters of 
Government who held India stock to be in attendance. Lord 
Sandwich marshaled the friends of the administration with his 
usual dexterity and alertness. Fifty peers and privy councilors, 20 
seldom seen so far eastward, were counted in the crowd. The 
debate lasted till midnight. The opponents of Hastings had a 
small superiority on the division; but a ballot was demanded, 
and the result was that the Governor-General triumphed by a 
majority of above a hundred votes over the combined efforts of 25 
the Directors and the Cabinet. The ministers were greatly 
exasperated by this defeat. Even Lord North lost his temper, 
no ordinary occurrence with him, and threatened to convoke 
parliament before Christmas, and to bring in a bill for depriving 
the Company of all political power and for restricting it to its 30 
old business of trading in silks and teas. 

Colonel Macleane, who through all this conflict had zealously 
supported the cause of Hastings, now thought that his employer 
was in imminent danger of being turned out, branded with 



140 WARREN HASTINGS 

parliamentary censure, perhaps prosecuted. The opinion of the 
Crown lawyers had already been taken respecting some parts of 
the Governor-General's conduct. It seemed to be high time to 
think of securing an honorable retreat. Under these circum- 
5 stances Macleane thought himself justified in producing the 
resignation with which he had been intrusted. The instrument 
was not in very accurate form, but the Directors were too eager 
to be scrupulous. They accepted the resignation, fixed on Mr. 
Wheler, one of their own body, to succeed Hastings, and sent 

io out orders that General Clavering, as senior member of Coun- 
cil, should exercise the functions of Governor-General till Mr. 
Wheler should arrive. 

But while these things were passing in England a great 
change had taken place in Bengal. Monson was no more. Only 

15 four members of the Government were left. Clavering and 
Francis were on one side, Barwell and the Governor-General 
on the other ; and the Governor-General had the casting vote. 
Hastings, who had been during two years destitute of all power 
and patronage, became at once absolute. He instantly pro- 

20 ceeded to retaliate on his adversaries. Their measures were 
reversed ; their creatures were displaced. A new valuation of 
the lands of Bengal, for the purposes of taxation, was ordered; 
and it was provided that the whole inquiry should be conducted 
by the Governor-General, and that all the letters relating to it 

25 should run in his name. He began, at the same time, to revolve 
vast plans of conquest and dominion, plans which he lived to 
see realized, though not by himself. His project was to form 
subsidiary alliances with the native princes, particularly with 
those of Oude and Berar, and thus to make Britain the para- 

30 mount power in India. While he was meditating these great 
designs, arrived the intelligence that he had ceased to be 
Governor-General, that his resignation had been accepted, that 
Wheler was coming out immediately, and that, till Wheler 
arrived, the chair was to be filled by Clavering. 



WARREN HASTINGS I4I 

Had Hastings still been in a minority, he would probably 
have retired without a struggle ; but he was now the real master 
of British India, and he was not disposed to quit his high place. 
He asserted that he had never given any instructions which 
could warrant the steps taken at home. What his instructions 5 
had been, he owned he had forgotten. If he had kept a copy 
of them, he had mislaid it. But he was certain that he had 
repeatedly declared to the Directors that he would not resign. 
He could not see how the Court, possessed of that declaration 
from himself, could receive his resignation from the doubtful 10 
hands of an agent. If the resignation were invalid, all the pro- 
ceedings which were founded on that resignation were null, and 
Hastings was still Governor-General. 

He afterwards affirmed that, though his agents had not acted 
in conformity with his instructions, he would nevertheless have 15 
held himself bound by their acts, if Clavering had not attempted 
to seize the supreme power by violence. Whether this assertion 
were or were not true, it cannot be doubted that the impru- 
dence of Clavering gave Hastings an advantage. The General 
sent for the keys of the fort and of the treasury, took possession 20 
of the records, and held a council at which Francis attended. 
Hastings took the chair in another apartment and Barwell sat 
with him. Each of the two parties had a plausible show of right. 
There was no authority entitled to their obedience within fifteen 
thousand miles. It seemed that there remained no way of set- 25 
tling the dispute except an appeal to arms ; and from such an 
appeal Hastings, confident of his influence over his countrymen 
in India, was not inclined to shrink. He directed the officers 
of the garrison of Fort William and of all the neighboring sta- 
tions to obey no orders but his. At the" same time, with admi- 30 
rable judgment, he offered to submit the case to the Supreme 
Court, and to abide by its decision. By making this proposition 
he risked nothing; yet it was a proposition which his opponents 
could hardly reject. Nobody could be treated as a criminal for 



142 WARREN HASTINGS 

obeying what the judges should solemnly pronounce to be the 
lawful government. The boldest man would shrink from taking 
arms in defense of what the judges should pronounce to be 
usurpation. Clavering and Francis, after some delay, unwillingly 
5 consented to abide by the award of the Court. The Court pro- 
nounced that the resignation was invalid, and that therefore 
Hastings was still Governor-General under the Regulating Act ; 
and the defeated members of the Council, finding that the sense 
of the whole settlement was against them, acquiesced in the 

10 decision. 

About this time arrived the news that, after a suit which had 
lasted several years, the Franconian courts had decreed a divorce 
between Imhoff and his wife. The Baron left Calcutta, carrying 
with him the means of buying an estate in Saxony. The lady 

15 became Mrs. Hastings. The event was celebrated by great 
festivities, and all the most conspicuous persons at Calcutta, 
without distinction of parties, were invited to the Government 
house. Clavering, as the Mohammedan chronicler tells the story, 
was sick in mind and body, and excused himself from join- 

20 ing the splendid assembly. But Hastings, whom, as it should 
seem, success in ambition and in love had put into high good 
humor, would take no denial. He went himself to the General's 
house and at length brought his vanquished rival in triumph to 
the gay circle which surrounded the bride. The exertion was 

25 too much for a frame broken by mortification as well as by 
disease. Clavering died a few days later. 

Wheler, who came out expecting to be Governor-General 
and was forced to content himself with a seat at the council- 
board, generally voted with Francis. But the Governor-General, 

30 with Barw ell's help and his own casting vote, was still the 
master. Some change took place at this time in the feeling both 
of the Court of Directors and of the Ministers of the Crown. 
All designs against Hastings were dropped; and when his 
original term of five years expired, he was quietly reappointed. 



WARREN HASTINGS 143 

The truth is, that the fearful dangers to which the public inter- 
ests in every quarter were now exposed, made both Lord North 
and the Company unwilling to part with a Governor whose 
talents, experience, and resolution enmity itself was compelled 
to acknowledge. 5 

The crisis was indeed formidable. That great and victorious 
empire, on the throne of which George the Third had taken his 
seat eighteen years before, with brighter hopes than had at- 
tended the accession of any of the long line of English sover- 
eigns, had, by the most senseless misgovernment, been brought 10 
to the verge of ruin. In America millions of Englishmen were 
at war with the country from which their blood, their language, 
their religion, and their institutions were derived, and to which, 
but a short time before, they had been as strongly attached as 
the inhabitants of Norfolk and Leicestershire. The great powers 15 
of Europe, humbled. to the dust by the vigor and genius which 
had guided the councils of George the Second, now rejoiced in 
the prospect of a signal revenge. The time was approaching 
when our island, while struggling to keep down the United 
States of America and pressed with a still nearer danger by the 20 
too just discontents of Ireland, was to be assailed by France, 
Spain, and Holland, and to be threatened by the armed neu- 
trality of the Baltic ; when even our maritime supremacy was to 
be in jeopardy ; when hostile fleets were to command the Straits 
of Calpe and the Mexican Sea ; when the British flag was to be 25 
scarcely able to protect the British Channel. Great as were the 
faults of Hastings, it was happy for our country that at that con- 
juncture, the most terrible through which she has ever passed, he 
was the ruler of her Indian dominions. 

An attack by sea on Bengal was little to be apprehended. 30 
The danger was that the European enemies of England might 
form an alliance with some native power, might furnish that 
power with troops, arms, and ammunition, and might thus 
assail our possessions on the side of the land. It was chiefly 



144 WARREN HASTINGS 

from the Mahrattas that Hastings anticipated danger. The 
original seat of that singular people was the wild range of hills 
which runs along the western coast of India. In the reign of 
Aurungzebe the inhabitants of those regions, led by the great 
5 Sevajee, began to descend on the possessions of their wealthier 
and less warlike neighbors. The energy, ferocity, and cunning 
of the Mahrattas soon made them the most conspicuous among 
the new powers which were generated by the corruption of the 
decaying monarchy. At first they were only robbers. They 

10 soon rose to the dignity of conquerors. Half the provinces of 
the empire were turned into Mahratta principalities. Free- 
booters, sprung from low castes and accustomed to menial em- 
ployments, became mighty Rajahs. The Bonslas, at the head 
of a band of plunderers, occupied the vast region of Berar. The 

15 Guicowar, which is, being interpreted, the Herdsman, founded 
that dynasty which still reigns in Guzerat. The houses of 
Scindia and Holkar waxed great in Malwa. One adventurous 
captain made his nest on the impregnable rock of Gooti. An- 
other became the lord of the thousand villages which are scat- 

20 tered among the green rice fields of Tanjore. 

That was the time, throughout India, of double govern- 
ment. The form and the power were everywhere separated. 
The Mussulman nabobs who had become sovereign princes, 
the Vizier in Oude, and the Nizam at Hyderabad still called 

25 themselves the viceroys of the house of Tamerlane. In the 
same manner the Mahratta states, though really independent of 
each other, pretended to be members of one empire. They all 
acknowledged, by words and ceremonies, the supremacy of the 
heir of Sevajee, a roi faineant who chewed bhang and toyed 

30 with dancing girls in a state prison at Sattara ; and of his 
Peshwa, or mayor of the palace, a great hereditary magistrate, 
who kept a court with kingly state at Poonah, and whose 
authority was obeyed in the spacious provinces of Aurungabad 
and Bejapoor. 



WARREN HASTINGS 145 

Some months before war was declared in Europe the Govern- 
ment of Bengal was alarmed by the news that a French adven- 
turer, who passed for a man of quality, had arrived at Poonah. 
It was said that he had been received there with great distinc- 
tion, that he had delivered to the Peshwa letters and presents 5 
from Louis the Sixteenth, and that a treaty, hostile to England, 
had been concluded between France and the Mahrattas. 

Hastings immediately resolved to strike the first blow. The 
title of the Peshwa was not undisputed. A portion of the 
Mahratta nation was favorable to a pretender. The Governor- 10 
General determined to espouse this pretender's interest, to move 
an army across the peninsula of India, and to form a close 
alliance with the chief of the house of Bonsla, who ruled Berar, 
and who, in power and dignity, was inferior to none of the 
Mahratta princes. 1 5 

The army had marched, and the negotiations with Berar 
were in progress, when a letter from the English consul at Cairo 
brought the news that war had been proclaimed both in London 
and Paris. All the measures which the crisis required were 
adopted by Hastings without a moment's delay. The French 20 
factories in Bengal were seized. Orders were sent to Madras 
that Pondicherry should instantly be occupied. Near Calcutta 
works were thrown up which were thought to render the 
approach of a hostile force impossible. A maritime establish- 
ment was formed for the defense of the river. Nine new bat- 25 
talions of sepoys were raised, and a corps of native artillery 
was formed out of the hardy Lascars of the Bay of Bengal. 
Having made these arrangements, the Governor-General with 
calm confidence pronounced his presidency secure from all at- 
tack, unless the Mahrattas should march against it in conjunc- 30 
tion with the French. 

The expedition which Hastings had sent westward was not 
so speedily or completely successful as most of his undertak- 
ings. The commanding officer procrastinated. The authorities 



146 WARREN HASTINGS 

at Bombay blundered. But the Governor-General persevered. 
A new commander repaired the errors of his predecessor. Sev- 
eral brilliant actions spread the military renown of the English 
through regions where no European flag had ever been seen. 

5 It is probable that, if a new and more formidable danger had 
not compelled Hastings to change his whole policy, his plans 
respecting the Mahratta empire would have been carried into 
complete effect. 

The authorities in England had wisely sent out to Bengal, as 

10 commander of the forces and member of the Council, one of the 
most distinguished soldiers of that time. Sir Eyre Coote had, 
many years before, been conspicuous among the founders of the 
British empire in the East. At the council of war which pre- 
ceded the battle of Plassey he earnestly recommended, in op- 

15 position to the majority, that daring course which, after some 
hesitation, was adopted, and which was crowned with such 
splendid success. He subsequently commanded in the south of 
India against the brave and unfortunate Lally, gained the deci- 
sive battle of Wandewash over the French and their native allies, 

20 took Pondicherry, and made the English power supreme in the 
Carnatic. Since those great exploits near twenty years had 
elapsed. Coote had no longer the bodily activity which he had 
shown in earlier days ; nor was the vigor of his mind altogether 
unimpaired. He was capricious and fretful, and required much 

25. coaxing to keep him in good humor. It must, we fear, be 
added that the love of money had grown upon him, and that he 
thought more about his allowances, and less about his duties, 
than might have been expected from so eminent a member of 
so noble a profession. Still he was perhaps the ablest officer 

30 that was then to be found in the British army. Among the 
native soldiers his name was great and his influence unrivaled. 
Nor is he yet forgotten by them. Now and then a white- 
bearded old sepoy may still be found, who loves to talk of Porto 
Novo and Pollilore. It is but a short time since one of those 



WARREN HASTINGS 147 

aged men came to present a memorial to an English officer 
who holds one of the highest employments in India. A print of 
Coote hung in the room. The veteran recognized at once that 
face and figure which he had not seen for more than half a 
century, and, forgetting his salaam to the living, halted, drew 5 
himself up, lifted his hand, and with solemn reverence paid his 
military obeisance to the dead. 

Coote, though he did not, like Barwell, vote constantly with 
the Governor-General, was by no means inclined to join in 
systematic opposition, and on most questions concurred with 10 
Hastings, who did his best, by assiduous courtship, and by 
readily granting the most exorbitant allowances, to gratify the 
strongest passions of the old soldier. 

It seemed likely at this time that a general reconciliation 
would put an end to the quarrels which had, during some years, 1 5 
weakened and disgraced the Government of Bengal. The 
dangers of the empire might well induce men of patriotic feeling 
— and of patriotic feeling neither Hastings nor Francis was 
destitute — to forget private enmities, and to cooperate heartily 
for the general good. Coote had never been concerned in fac- 20 
tion. Wheler was thoroughly tired of it. Barwell had made an 
ample fortune, and, though he had promised that he would not 
leave Calcutta while his help was needed in Council, was most 
desirous to return to England, and exerted himself to promote 
an arrangement which would set him at liberty. A compact was 25 
made, by which Francis agreed to desist from opposition, and 
Hastings engaged that the friends of Francis should be ad- 
mitted to a fair share of the honors and emoluments of the 
service. During a few months after this treaty there was ap- 
parent harmony at the council-board. 3° 

Harmony, indeed, was never more necessary; for at this 
.moment internal calamities, more formidable than, war itself, 
menaced Bengal. The authors of the Regulating Act of 1773 
had established two independent powers, the one judicial, the 



148 WARREN HASTINGS 

other political ; and, with a carelessness scandalously common 
in English legislation, had omitted to define the limits of either. 
The judges took advantage of the indistinctness, and attempted 
to draw to themselves supreme authority, not only within 
5 Calcutta, but through the whole of the great territory subject 
to the presidency of Fort William. There are few Englishmen 
who will not admit, that the English law, in spite of modern im- 
provements, is neither so cheap nor so speedy as might be 
wished. Still, it is a system which has grown up among us. In 

10 some points it has been fashioned to suit our feelings ; in 
others it has gradually fashioned our feelings to suit itself. 
Even to its worst evils we are accustomed ; and, therefore, 
though we may complain of them, they do not strike us with the 
horror and dismay which would be produced by a new grievance 

1 5 of smaller severity. In India the case is widely different. English 
law, transplanted to that country, has all the vices from which 
we suffer here ; it has them all in a far higher degree ; and it has 
other vices, compared with which the worst vices from which 
we suffer are trifles. Dilatory here, it is far more dilatory in a 

20 land where the help of an interpreter is needed by every judge 
and by every advocate. Costly here, it is far more costly in a 
land into which the legal practitioners must be imported from 
an immense distance. All English labor in India, from the labor 
of the Governor-General and the Commander in Chief, down to 

25 that of a groom or a watchmaker, must be paid for at a higher 
rate than at home. No man will be banished, and banished to 
the torrid zone, for nothing. The rule holds good with respect 
to the legal profession. No English barrister will work, fifteen 
thousand miles from all his friends, with the thermometer at 

30 ninety-six in the shade, for the emoluments which will content 
him in chambers that overlook the Thames. Accordingly the 
fees at Calcutta are about three times as great as the fees of 
Westminster Hall ; and this, though the people of India are, 
beyond all comparison, poorer than the people of England. 



WARREN HASTINGS 149 

Yet the delay and the expense, grievous as they are, form the 
smallest part of the evil which English law, imported without 
modifications into India, could not fail to produce. The strongest 
feelings of our nature, honor, religion, female modesty, rose up 
against the innovation. Arrest on mesne process was the first 5 
step in most civil proceedings ; and to a native of rank arrest 
was not merely a restraint, but a foul personal indignity. Oaths 
were required in every stage of every suit ; and the feeling 
of a Quaker about an oath is hardly stronger than that of a 
respectable native. That the apartments of a woman of quality 10 
should be entered by strange men, or that her face should be 
seen by them, are, in the East, intolerable outrages, outrages 
which are more dreaded than death, and which can be expiated 
only by the shedding of blood. To these outrages the most dis- 
tinguished families of Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa were now 15 
exposed. Imagine what the state of our own country would be, 
if a jurisprudence were on a sudden introduced among us, 
which should be to us what our jurisprudence was to our Asiatic 
subjects. Imagine what the state of our country would be, if it 
were enacted that any man, by merely swearing that a debt was 20 
due to him, should acquire a right to insult the persons of men 
of the most honorable and sacred callings and of women of the 
most shrinking delicacy, to horsewhip a general officer, to put 
a bishop in the stocks, to treat ladies in the way which called 
forth the blow of Wat Tyler. Something like this was the 25 
effect of the attempt which the Supreme Court made to extend 
its jurisdiction oyer the whole of the Company's territory. 

A reign of terror began, — of terror heightened by mystery ; 
for even that which was endured was less horrible than that 
which was anticipated. No man knew what was next to be 30 
expected from this strange tribunal. It came from beyond the 
black water, as the people of India, with mysterious horror, 
call the sea. It consisted of judges not one of whom was 
familiar with the usages of the millions over whom they claimed 



150 WARREN HASTINGS 

boundless authority. Its records were kept in unknown charac- 
ters ; its sentences were pronounced in unknown sounds. It had 
already collected round itself an army of the worst part of the 
native population, informers, and false witnesses, and common 
5 barrators, and agents of chicane, and, above all, a banditti of 
bailiffs' followers, compared with whom the retainers of the 
worst English sponging houses, in the worst times, might be 
considered as upright and tender-hearted. Many natives, highly 
considered among their countrymen, were seized, hurried up to 

10 Calcutta, flung into the common jail, not for any crime even 
imputed, not for any debt that had been proved, but merely as 
a precaution till their cause should come to trial. There were 
instances in which men of the most venerable dignity, perse- 
cuted without a cause by extortioners, died of rage and shame 

15 in the gripe of the vile alguazils of Impey. The harems of 
noble Mohammedans, sanctuaries respected in the East by 
governments which respected nothing else, were burst open 
by gangs of bailiffs. The Mussulmans, braver and less accus- 
tomed to submission than the Hindoos, sometimes stood on 

20 their defense ; and there were instances in which they shed 
their blood in the doorway, while defending, sword in hand, the 
sacred apartments of their women. Nay, it seemed as if even 
the faint-hearted Bengalese, who had crouched at the feet of 
Surajah Dowlah, who had been mute during the administration 

25 of Vansittart, would at length find courage in despair. No 
Mahratta invasion had ever spread through the province such 
dismay as this inroad of English lawyers. All the injustice of 
former oppressors, Asiatic and European, appeared as a blessing 
when compared with the justice of the Supreme Court. 

30 Every class of the population, English and native, with the 
exception of the ravenous pettifoggers who fattened on the 
misery and terror of an immense community, cried out loudly 
against this fearful oppression. But the judges were immovable. 
If a bailiff was resisted, they ordered the soldiers to be called 



WARREN HASTINGS 151 

out. If a servant of the Company, in conformity with the 
orders of the Government, withstood the miserable catchpoles 
who, with Impey's writs in their hands, exceeded the insolence 
and rapacity of gang robbers, he was flung into prison for a 
contempt. The lapse of sixty years, the virtue and wisdom of 5 
many eminent magistrates who have, during that time, admin- 
istered justice in the Supreme Court, have not effaced from 
the minds of the people of Bengal the recollection of those 
evil days. 

The members of the Government were, on this subject, 10 
united as one man. Hastings had courted the judges ; he had 
found them useful instruments, but he was not disposed to make 
them his own masters, or the masters of India. His mind was 
large ; his knowledge of the native character most accurate. 
He saw that the system pursued by the Supreme Court was 15 
degrading to the Government and ruinous to the people ; and he 
resolved to oppose it manfully. The consequence was, that the 
friendship — if that be the proper word for such a connection 
— which had existed between him and Impey was for a time 
completely dissolved. The Government placed itself firmly be- 20 
tween the tyrannical tribunal and the people. The Chief Justice 
proceeded to the wildest excesses. The Governor-General and 
all the members of Council were served with writs, calling on 
them to appear before the King's justices and to answer for 
their public acts. This was too much. Hastings, with just 25 
scorn, refused to obey the call, set at liberty the persons wrong- 
fully detained by the Court, and took measures for resisting the 
outrageous proceedings of the sheriffs' officers, if necessary, by 
the sword. But he had in view another device which might pre- 
vent the necessity of an appeal to arms. He was seldom at a 30 
loss for an expedient ; and he knew Impey well. The expedient, 
in this case, was a very simple one, neither more nor less than 
a bribe. Impey was, by act of Parliament, a judge, independent 
of the Government of Bengal, and entitled to a salary of eight 



152 WARREN HASTINGS 

thousand a year. Hastings proposed to make him also a judge 
in the Company's service, removable at the pleasure of the 
Government of Bengal ; and to give him, in that capacity, about 
eight thousand a year more. It was understood that, in con- 
5 sideration of this new salary, Impey would desist from urging 
the high pretensions of his court. If he did urge these preten- 
sions, the Government could, at a moment's notice, eject him 
from the new place which had been created for him. The 
bargain was struck ; Bengal was saved ; an appeal to force was 

10 averted ; and the Chief Justice was rich, quiet, and infamous. 

Of Impey's conduct it is unnecessary to speak. It was of a 

piece with almost every part of his conduct that comes under 

the notice of history. No other such judge has dishonored the 

English ermine, since Jeffreys drank himself to death in the 

15 Tower. But we cannot agree with those who have blamed 
Hastings for this transaction. The case stood thus. The neg- 
ligent manner in which the Regulating Act had been framed 
put it in the power of the Chief Justice to throw a great country 
into the most dreadful confusion. He was determined to use 

20 his power to the utmost, unless he was paid to be still ; and 
Hastings consented to pay him. The necessity was to be 
deplored. It is also to be deplored that pirates should be able 
to exact ransom by threatening to make their captives walk the 
plank. But to ransom a captive from pirates has always been 

2 5 held a humane and Christian act ; and it would be absurd to 
charge the payer of the ransom with corrupting the virtue of 
the corsair. This, we seriously think, is a not unfair illustra- 
tion of the relative position of Impey, Hastings, and the people 
of India. Whether it was right in Impey to demand or to ac- 

30 cept a price for powers which, if they really belonged to him, 
he could not abdicate, which, if they did not belong to him, he 
ought never to have usurped, and which in neither case he 
could honestly sell, is one question. It is quite another question, 
whether Hastings was not right to give any sum, however large, 



WARREN HASTINGS 1 53 

to any man, however worthless, rather than either surrender 
millions of human beings to pillage or rescue them by civil war. 

Francis strongly opposed this arrangement. It may, indeed, 
be suspected that personal aversion to Impey was as strong a 
motive with Francis as regard for the welfare of the province. 5 
To a mind burning with resentment, it might seem" better to 
leave Bengal to the oppressors than to redeem it by enriching 
them. It is not improbable, on the other hand, that Hastings 
may have been the more willing to resort to an expedient agree- 
able to the Chief Justice, because that high functionary had 10 
already been so serviceable, and might, when existing dissensions 
were composed, be serviceable again. 

But it was not on this point alone that Francis was now 
opposed to Hastings. The peace between them proved to be 
only a short and hollow truce, during which their mutual aversion 1 5 
was constantly becoming stronger. At length an explosion took 
place. Hastings publicly charged Francis with having deceived 
him and with having induced Barwell to quit the service by 
insincere promises. Then came a dispute, such as frequently 
arises even between honorable men, when they may make 20 
important agreements by mere verbal communication. An 
impartial historian will probably be of opinion that they had 
misunderstood each other ; but their minds were so much em- 
bittered that they imputed to each other nothing less than delib- 
erate villany. " I do not," said Hastings, in a minute recorded 25 
on the Consultations of the Government, " I do not trust to 
Mr. Francis's promises of candor, convinced that he is incapable 
of it. I judge of his public conduct by his private, which I have 
found to be void of truth and honor." After the Council had 
risen, Francis put a challenge into the Governor-General's hand. 30 
It was instantly accepted. They met and fired. Francis was 
shot through the body. He was carried to a neighboring house, 
where it appeared that the wound, though severe, was not 
mortal. Hastings inquired repeatedly after his enemy's health, 



154 WARREN HASTINGS 

and proposed to call on him ; but Francis coldly declined the 
visit. He had a proper sense, he said, of the Governor-General's 
politeness, but could not consent to any private interview. They 
could meet only at the council-board. 
5 In a very short time it was made signally manifest to how 
great a danger the Governor-General had, on this occasion, 
exposed his country. A crisis arrived with which he, and he 
alone, was competent to deal. It is not too much to say that, if 
he had been taken from the head of affairs, the years 1780 and 

10 1 781 would have been as fatal to our power in Asia as to our 
power in America. 

The Mahrattas had been the chief objects of apprehension 
to Hastings. The measures which he had adopted for the 
purpose of breaking their power had at first been frustrated 

1 5 by the errors of those whom he was compelled to employ ; but 
his perseverance and ability seemed likely to be crowned with 
success, when a far more formidable danger showed itself in a 
distant quarter. 

About thirty years before this time a Mohammedan soldier 

20 had begun to distinguish himself in the wars of Southern India. 
His education had been neglected ; his extraction was humble. 
His father had been a petty officer of revenue ; his grandfather 
a wandering dervish. But though thus meanly descended, though 
ignorant even of the alphabet, the adventurer had no sooner 

25 been placed at the head of a body of troops than he approved 
himself a man born for conquest and command. Among the 
crowd of chiefs who were struggling for a share of India, none 
could compare with him in the qualities of the captain and the 
statesman. He became a general ; he became a sovereign. Out 

30 of the fragments of old principalities which had gone to pieces 
in the general wreck he formed for himself a great, compact, 
and vigorous empire. That empire he ruled with the ability, 
severity, and vigilance of Louis the Eleventh. Licentious in his 
pleasures, implacable in his revenge, he had yet enlargement 



WARREN HASTINGS 1 55 

of mind enough to perceive how much the prosperity of sub- 
jects adds to the strength of governments. He was an op- 
pressor ; but he had at least the merit of protecting his people 
against all oppression except his own. He was now in extreme 
old age ; but his intellect was as clear, and his spirit as high, as 5 
in the prime of manhood. Such was the great Hyder Ali, the 
founder of the Mohammedan kingdom of Mysore, and the most 
formidable enemy with whom the English conquerors of India 
have ever had to contend. 

Had Hastings been Governor of Madras, Hyder would have 10 
been either made a friend, or vigorously encountered as an 
enemy. Unhappily the English authorities in the south pro- 
voked their powerful neighbor's hostility, without being prepared 
to repel it. On a sudden an army of ninety thousand men, far 
superior in discipline and efficiency to any other native force 15 
that could be found in India, came pouring through those wild 
passes which, worn by mountain torrents, and dark with jungle, 
lead down from the table-land of Mysore to the plains of the 
Carnatic. This great army was accompanied by a hundred 
pieces of cannon ; and its movements were guided by many 20 
French officers, trained in the best military schools of Europe. 

Hyder was everywhere triumphant. The sepoys in many 
British garrisons flung down their arms. Some forts were sur- 
rendered by treachery and some by despair. In a few days the 
whole open country north of the Coleroon had submitted. The 25 
English inhabitants of Madras could already see by night, from 
the top of Mount St. Thomas, the eastern sky reddened by a 
vast semicircle of blazing villages. The white villas, to which 
our countrymen retire after the daily labors of government and 
of trade, when the cool evening breeze springs up from the bay, 30 
were now left without inhabitants; for bands of the fierce 
horsemen of Mysore had already been seen prowling among 
the tulip trees and near the gay verandas. Even the town 
was not thought secure, and the British merchants and public 



156 WARREN HASTINGS 

functionaries made haste to crowd themselves behind the can- 
non of Fort St. George. 

There were the means indeed of assembling an army which 
might have defended the presidency, and even driven the in- 
5 vader back to his mountains. Sir Hector Munro was at the 
head of one considerable force ; Baillie was advancing with 
another. United, they might have presented a formidable front 
even to such an enemy as Hyder. But the English com- 
manders, neglecting those fundamental rules of the military art 

10 of which the propriety is obvious even to men who have never 
received a military education, deferred their junction and were 
separately attacked. Baillie's detachment was destroyed. Munro 
was forced to abandon his baggage, to fling his guns into the 
tanks, and to save himself by a retreat which might be called a 

15 flight. In three weeks from the commencement of the war the 
British empire in Southern India had been brought to the verge 
of ruin. Only a few fortified places remained to us. The glory 
of our arms had departed. It was known that a great French 
expedition might soon be expected on the coast of Coromandel. 

20 England, beset by enemies on every side, was in no condition to 
protect such remote dependencies. 

Then it was that the fertile genius and serene courage of 
Hastings achieved their most signal triumph. A swift ship, 
flying before the southwest monsoon, brought the evil tidings 

25 in few days to Calcutta. In twenty-four hours the Governor- 
General had framed a complete plan of policy adapted to the 
altered state of affairs. The struggle with Hyder was a struggle 
for life and death. All minor objects must be sacrificed to: the 
preservation of the Carnatic. The disputes with the Mahrattas 

30 must be accommodated. A large military force and a supply of 
money must be instantly sent to Madras. But even these meas- 
ures would be insufficient, unless the war, hitherto so grossly 
mismanaged, were placed under the direction of a vigorous 
mind. It was no time for trifling. Hastings determined to resort 



WARREN HASTINGS I 5 7 

to an extreme exercise of power, to suspend the incapable Gov- 
ernor of Fort St. George, to send Sir Eyre Coote to oppose 
Hyder, and to intrust that distinguished general with the whole 
administration of the war. 

In spite of the sullen opposition of Francis, who had- now 5 
recovered from his wound and had returned to the Council, the 
Governor-General's wise and firm policy was approved by the 
majority of the board. The reinforcements were sent off with 
great expedition and reached Madras before the French arma- 
ment arrived in the Indian seas. Coote, broken by age and 10 
disease, was no longer the Coote of Wandewash ; but he was 
still a resolute and skillful commander. The progress of Hyder 
was arrested ; and in a few months the great victory of Porto 
Novo retrieved the honor of the English arms. 

In the meantime Francis had returned to England, and 15 
Hastings was now left perfectly unfettered. Wheler had gradu- 
ally been relaxing in his opposition, and, after the departure of 
his vehement and implacable colleague, cooperated heartily with 
the Governor-General, whose influence over the British in India, 
always great, had, by the vigor and success of his recent meas- 20 
ures, been considerably increased. 

But, though the difficulties arising from factions within the 
Council were at an end, another class of difficulties had become 
more pressing than ever. The financial embarrassment was 
extreme. Hastings had to find the means not only of carrying 25 
on the Government of Bengal but of maintaining a most costly 
war against both Indian and European enemies in the Carnatic, 
and of making remittances to England. A few years before this 
time he had obtained relief by plundering the Mogul and en- 
slaving the Rohillas ; nor were the resources of his fruitful mind 30 
by any means exhausted. 

His first design was on Benares, a city which in wealth, pop- 
ulation, dignity, and sanctity was among the foremost of Asia. 
It was commonly believed that half a million of human beings 



158 . WARREN HASTINGS 

was crowded into that labyrinth of lofty alleys, rich with shrines, 
and minarets, and balconies, and carved oriels, to which the 
sacred apes clung by hundreds. The traveler could scarcely 
make his way through the press of holy mendicants and not less 
5 holy bulls. The broad and stately flights of steps which de- 
scended from these swarming haunts to the bathing places along 
the Ganges were worn every day by the footsteps of an innumer- 
able multitude of worshipers. The schools and temples drew 
crowds of pious Hindoos from every province where the Brah- 

10 minical faith was known. Hundreds of devotees came thither 
every month to die ; for it was believed that a peculiarly happy 
fate awaited the man who should pass from the sacred city into 
the sacred river. Nor was superstition the only motive which 
allured strangers to that great metropolis. Commerce had as 

1 5 many pilgrims as religion. All along the shores of the venerable 
stream lay great fleets of vessels laden with rich merchandise. 
From the looms of Benares went forth the most delicate silks 
that adorned the balls of St. James's and of the Petit Trianon, 
and in the bazaars the muslins of Bengal and the sabers of Oude 

20 were mingled with the jewels of Golconda and the shawls of 
Cashmere. This rich capital and the surrounding tract had long 
been under the immediate rule of a Hindoo prince who rendered 
homage to the Mogul emperors. During the great anarchy of 
India the lords of Benares became independent of the Court of 

25 Delhi, but were compelled to submit to the authority of the 
Nabob of Oude. Oppressed by this formidable neighbor, they 
invoked the protection of the English. The English protection 
was given ; and at length the Nabob Vizier, by a solemn treaty, 
ceded all his rights over Benares to the Company. From that 

30 time the Rajah was the vassal of the Government of Bengal, 
acknowledged its supremacy, and engaged to send an annual 
tribute to Fort William. This tribute Cheyte Sing, the reigning 
prince, had paid with strict punctuality. 

Respecting the precise nature of the legal relation between 



WARREN HASTINGS I 59 

the Company and the Rajah of Benares there has been much 
warm and acute controversy. On the one side it has been main- 
tained that Cheyte Sing was merely a great subject on whom 
the superior power had a right to call for aid in the necessities 
of the empire. On the other side it has been contended that he 5 
was an independent prince, that the only claim which the Com- 
pany had upon him was for a fixed tribute, and that, while the 
fixed tribute was regularly paid, as it assuredly was, the English 
had no more right to exact any further contribution from him 
than to demand subsidies from Holland or Denmark. Nothing 10 
is easier than to find precedents and analogies in favor of 
either view. 

Our own impression is that neither view is correct. It was 
too much the habit of English politicians to take it for granted 
that there was in India a known and definite constitution by 15 
which questions of this kind were to be decided. The truth is 
that, during the interval which elapsed between the fall of the 
house of Tamerlane and the establishment of the British 
ascendancy, there was no such constitution. | The old order 
of things had passed away. The new order of things was not 20 
yet formed. All was transition, confusion, obscurity. Every- 
body kept his head as he best might, and scrambled for 
whatever he could get. There have been similar seasons 
in Europe. The time of the dissolution of the Carlovingian 
empire is an instance. Who would think of seriously discussing 25 
the question, what extent of pecuniary aid and of obedience 
Hugh Capet had a constitutional right to demand from the Duke 
of Brittany or the Duke of Normandy ? The words " constitu- 
tional right " had, in that state of society, no meaning. If Hugh 
Capet laid hands on all the possessions of the Duke of Nor- 30 
mandy, this might be unjust and immoral ; but it would not be 
illegal, in the sense in which the ordinances of Charles the Tenth 
were illegal. If, on the other hand, the Duke of Normandy made 
war on Hugh Capet, this might be unjust and immoral ; but it 



l6o WARREN HASTINGS 

would not be illegal, in the sense in which the expedition of 
Prince Louis Bonaparte was illegal. 

Very similar to this was the state of India sixty years ago. 
Of the existing governments not a single one could lay claim to 
5 legitimacy or could plead any other title than recent occupation. 
There was scarcely a province in which the real sovereignty and 
the nominal sovereignty were not disjoined. Titles and forms 
were still retained which implied that the heir of Tamerlane was 
an absolute ruler, and that the Nabobs of the provinces were 

10 his lieutenants. In reality he was a captive. The Nabobs were 
in some places independent princes. In other places, as in 
Bengal and the Carnatic, they had, like their master, become 
mere phantoms, and the Company was supreme. Among the 
Mahrattas again the heir of Sevajee still kept the title of Rajah ; 

1 5 but he was a prisoner, and his prime minister, the Peshwa, had 
become the hereditary chief of the state. The Peshwa, in his 
turn, was fast sinking into the same degraded situation to which 
he had reduced the Rajah. It was, we believe, impossible to 
find, from the Himalayas to Mysore, a single government which 

20 was at once a government de facto and a government de jure, 
which possessed the physical means of making itself feared by 
its neighbors and subjects, and which had at the same time the 
authority derived from law and long prescription. 

Hastings clearly discerned, what was hidden from most of 

25 his contemporaries, that such a state of things gave immense 
advantages to a ruler of great talents and few scruples. In 
every international question that could arise he had his option 

/ between the de facto ground and the de jure ground; and the 
probability was that one of those grounds would sustain any 

30 claim that it might be convenient for him to make, and enable 
him to resist any claim made by others. In every controversy, 
accordingly, he resorted to the plea which suited his immediate 
purpose, without troubling himself in the least about consistency ; 
and thus he scarcely ever failed to find what, to persons of short 



WARREN HASTINGS l6l 

memories and scanty information, seemed to be a justification 
for what he wanted to do. Sometimes the Nabob of Bengal is 
a shadow, sometimes a monarch. Sometimes the Vizier is a 
mere deputy, sometimes an independent potentate. If it is 
expedient for the Company to show some legal title to the 5 
revenues of Bengal, the grant under the seal of the Mogul is 
brought forward as an instrument of the highest authority. 
When the Mogul asks for the rents which were reserved to 
him by that very grant, he is told that he is a mere pageant, 
that the English power rests on a very different foundation 10 
from a charter given by him, that he is welcome to play at 
royalty as long as he likes, but that he must expect no tribute 
from the real masters of India. 

It is true that it was in the power of others, as well as of 
Hastings, to practice this legerdemain; but in the controversies 15 
of governments sophistry is of little use unless it be backed by 
power. There is a principle which Hastings was fond of assert- 
ing in the strongest terms, and on which he acted with undeviat- 
ing steadiness. It is a principle which, we must own, though it 
may be grossly abused, can hardly be disputed in the present 20 
state of public law. It is this, that where an ambiguous question 
arises between two governments, there is, if they cannot agree, 
no appeal except to force, and that the opinion of the stronger 
must prevail. Almost every question was ambiguous in India. 
The English Government was the strongest in India. The conse- 25 
quences are obvious. The English Government might do exactly 
what it chose. 

The English Government now chose to wring money out of 
Cheyte Sing. It had formerly been convenient to treat him- as 
a sovereign prince ; it was now convenient to treat him as a 30 
subject. Dexterity inferior to that of Hastings could easily find, 
in the general chaos of laws and customs, arguments for either 
course. Hastings wanted a great supply. It was known that 
Cheyte Sing had a large revenue, and it was suspected that he 



162 WARREN HASTINGS 

had accumulated a treasure. Nor was he a favorite at Calcutta. 
He had, when the Governor-General was in great difficulties, 
courted the favor of Francis and Clavering. Hastings, who, less 
we believe from evil passions than from policy, seldom left an 
5 injury unpunished, was not sorry that the fate of Cheyte Sing 
should teach neighboring princes the same lesson which the 
fate of Nuncomar had already impressed on the inhabitants of 
Bengal. 

In 1778, on the first breaking out of the war with France, 

10 Cheyte Sing -was called upon to pay, in addition to his fixed 
tribute, an extraordinary contribution of fifty thousand pounds. 
In 1779 an equal sum was exacted. In 1780 the demand was 
renewed. Cheyte Sing, in the hope of obtaining some indul- 
gence, secretly offered the Governor-General a bribe of twenty 

15 thousand pounds. Hastings took the money, and his enemies 
have maintained that he took it intending to keep it. He cer- 
tainly concealed the transaction for a time, both from the 
Council in Bengal and from the Directors at home ; nor did he 
ever give any satisfactory reason for the concealment. Public 

20 spirit or the fear of detection, however, determined him to with- 
stand the temptation. He paid over the bribe to the Com- 
pany's treasury, and insisted that the Rajah should instantly 
comply with the demands of the English Government. The 
Rajah, after the fashion of his countrymen, shuffled, solicited, 

25 and pleaded poverty. The grasp of Hastings was not to be so 

eluded. He added to the requisition another ten thousand 

pounds as a fine for delay, and sent troops to exact the money. 

The money was paid. But this was not enough. The late 

events in the south of India had increased the financial embar- 

30 rassments of the Company. Hastings was determined to plunder 
Cheyte Sing, and, for that end, to fasten a quarrel on him. Ac- 
cordingly the Rajah was now required to keep a body of cavalry 
for the service of the British Government. He objected and 
evaded. This was exactly what the Governor-General wanted. 



WARREN HASTINGS 163 

He had now a pretext for treating the wealthiest of his vassals 
as a criminal. " I resolved " — these are the words of Hastings 
himself — " to draw from his guilt the means of relief to the 
Company's distresses, to make him pay largely for his pardon, 
or to exact a severe vengeance for past delinquency." The plan 5 
was simply this, to demand larger and larger contributions till 
the Rajah should be driven to remonstrate, then to call his 
remonstrance a crime, and to punish him by confiscating all 
his possessions. 

Cheyte Sing was in the greatest dismay. He offered two 10 
hundred thousand pounds to propitiate the British Government. 
But Hastings replied that nothing less than half a million would 
be accepted. Nay, he began to think of selling Benares to Oude, 
as he had formerly sold Allahabad and Rohilcund. The matter 
was one which could not be well managed at a distance ; and 1 5 
Hastings resolved to visit Benares. 

Cheyte Sing received his liege lord with every mark of rev- 
erence, came near sixty miles, with his guards, to meet and 
escort the illustrious visitor, and expressed his deep concern at 
the displeasure of the English. He even took off his turban, and 20 
laid it in the lap of Hastings, a gesture which in India marks 
the most profound submission and devotion. Hastings behaved 
with cold and repulsive severity. Having arrived at Benares, he 
sent to the Rajah a paper containing the demands of the Govern- 
ment of Bengal. The Rajah, in reply, attempted to clear him- 25 
self from the accusations brought against him. Hastings, who 
wanted money and not excuses, was not to be put off by the 
ordinary artifices of Eastern negotiation. He instantly ordered 
the Rajah to be arrested and placed under the custody of two 
companies of sepoys. 30 

In taking these strong measures Hastings scarcely showed 
his usual judgment. It is probable that, having had little oppor- 
tunity of personally observing any part of the population of 
India, except the Bengalese, he was not fully aware of the 



1 64 WARREN HASTINGS 

difference between their character and that of the tribes which 
inhabit the upper provinces. He was now in a land far more 
favorable to the vigor of the human frame than the Delta of the 
Ganges ; in a land fruitful of soldiers, who have been found 
5 worthy to follow English battalions to the charge and into the 
breach. The Rajah was popular among his subjects. His ad- 
ministration had been mild; and the prosperity of the district 
which he governed presented a striking contrast to the depressed 
state of Bahar under our rule, and a still more striking contrast 

10 to the misery of the provinces which were Cursed by the tyranny 
of the Nabob Vizier. The national and religious prejudices with 
which the English were regarded throughout India were pecul- 
iarly intense in the metropolis of the Brahminical superstition. 
It can therefore scarcely be doubted that the Governor-General, 

15 before he outraged the dignity of Cheyte Sing by an arrest, 
ought to have assembled a force capable of bearing down all 
opposition. This had not been done. The handful of sepoys 
who attended Hastings would probably have been sufficient to 
overawe Moorshedabad or the Black Town of Calcutta. But 

20 they were unequal to a conflict with the hardy rabble of Benares. 
The streets surrounding the palace were filled by an immense 
multitude, of whom a large proportion, as is usual in Upper 
India, wore arms. The tumult became a fight, and the fight a 
massacre. The English officers defended themselves with des- 

25 perate courage against overwhelming numbers, and fell, as 
became them, sword in hand. The sepoys were butchered. The 
gates were forced. The captive prince, neglected by his jailers 
during the confusion, discovered an outlet which opened on the 
precipitous bank of the Ganges, let himself down to the water 

30 by a string made of the turbans of his attendants, found a boat, 
and escaped to the opposite shore. 

If Hastings had, by indiscreet violence, brought himself into 
a difficult and perilous situation, it is only just to acknowledge 
that he extricated himself with even more than his usual ability 



WARREN HASTINGS 165 

and presence - of mind. He had only fifty men with him. The 
building in which he had taken up his residence was on every 
side blockaded by the insurgents. But his fortitude remained 
unshaken. The Rajah from the other side of the river sent apol- 
ogies and liberal offers. They were not even answered. Some 5 
subtle and enterprising men were found who undertook to pass 
through the throng of enemies, and to convey the intelligence 
of the late events to the English cantonments. It is the fashion 
of the natives of India to wear large earrings of gold. When 
they travel the rings are laid aside, lest the precious metal should 10 
tempt some gang of robbers, and, in place of the ring, a quill 
or roll of paper is inserted in the orifice, to prevent it from 
closing. Hastings placed in the ears of his messengers letters 
rolled up in the smallest compass. Some of these letters were 
addressed to the commanders of the English troops. One was 15 
written to assure his wife of his safety. One was to the envoy 
whom he had sent to negotiate with the Mahrattas. Instructions 
for the negotiations were needed ; and the Governor-General 
framed them in that situation of extreme danger, with as much 
composure as if he had been writing in his palace at Calcutta. 20 

Things, however, were not yet at the worst. An English of- 
ficer of more spirit than judgment, eager to distinguish himself, 
made a premature attack on the insurgents beyond the river. 
His troops were entangled in narrow streets and assailed by a 
furious population. He fell with many of his men; and the 25 
survivors were forced to retire. . : 

This event produced the effect which has never failed to 
follow every check," however slight, sustained in India by: the. 
English arms. For hundreds of miles round, the whole country 
was in . commotion. The entire population of the district of 30 
Benares took arms. The fields were abandoned by the husband- 
men, who thronged to defend their prince. The infection spread 
to Oude. The oppressed people of that province rose up against 
the Nabob Vizier, refused to pay their imposts, and put the 



1 66 WARREN HASTINGS 

revenue officers to flight. Even Bahar was ripe for revolt. The 
hopes of Cheyte Sing began to rise. Instead of imploring mercy 
in the humble style of a vassal, he began to talk the language 
of a conqueror, and threatened, it was said, to sweep the white 
5 usurpers out of the land. But the English troops were now as- 
sembling fast. The officers, and even the private men, regarded 
the Governor-General with enthusiastic attachment, and flew to 
his aid with an alacrity which, as he boasted, had never been 
shown on any other occasion. Major Popham, a brave and 

10 skillful soldier, who had highly distinguished himself in the 
Mahratta war, and in whom the Governor-General reposed the 
greatest confidence, took the command. The tumultuary army 
of the Rajah was put to rout. His fastnesses were stormed. In 
a few hours above thirty thousand men left his standard and 

1 5 returned to their ordinary avocations. The unhappy prince fled 
from his country forever. His fair domain was added to the 
British dominions. One of his relations indeed was appointed 
Rajah. But the Rajah of Benares was henceforth to be, like 
the Nabob of Bengal, a mere pensioner. 

20 By this revolution an addition of two hundred thousand 
pounds a year was made to the revenues of the Company. But 
the immediate relief was not as great as had been expected. 
The treasure laid up by Cheyte Sing had been popularly esti- 
mated at a million sterling. * It turned out to be about a fourth 

25 part of that sum ; and such, as it was, it was seized by the army 
and divided as prize money. 

Disappointed in his expectations from Benares, Hastings was 
more violent than he would otherwise have been, in his dealings. 
with Oude. Sujah Dowlah had long been dead. His son and 

3a successor, Asaph-ul-Dowlah, was one of the weakest and most 
vicious even of Eastern princes. His life was divided between 
torpid repose and the most odious forms of sensuality. In his 
court there was boundless waste, throughout his dominions 
wretchedness and disorder. He had: been, under the skillful 



WARREN HASTINGS 167 

management of the English Government, gradually sinking from 
the rank of an independent prince to that of a vassal of the 
Company. It was only by the help of a British brigade that he 
could be secure from the aggressions of neighbors who despised 
his weakness, and from the vengeance of subjects who detested 5 
his tyranny. A brigade was furnished ; and he engaged to de- 
fray the charge of paying and maintaining it. From that time 
his independence was at an end. Hastings was not a man to 
lose the advantage which he had thus gained. The Nabob soon 
began to complain of the burden which he had undertaken to 10 
bear. His revenues, he said, were falling off ; his servants were 
unpaid ; he could no longer support the expense of the arrange- 
ment which he had sanctioned. Hastings would not listen to 
these representations. The Vizier, he said, had invited the 
Government of Bengal to send him troops, and had promised 15 
to pay for them. The troops had been sent. How long the 
troops were to remain in Oude was a matter not settled by the 
treaty. It remained, therefore, to be settled between the con- 
tracting parties. But the contracting parties differed. Who, 
then, must decide ? The stronger. 20 

Hastings also argued that, if the English force was with- 
drawn, Oude would certainly become a prey to anarchy and 
would probably be overrun by a Mahratta army. That the 
finances of Oude were embarrassed he admitted. But he con- 
tended, not without reason, that the embarrassment was to be 25 
attributed to the incapacity and vices of Asaph-ul-Dowlah 
himself, and that, if less were spent on the troops, the only 
effect would be that more would be squandered on worthless 
favorites. 

Hastings had intended, after settling the affairs of Benares, 30 
to visit Lucknow, and there to confer with Asaph-ul-Dowlah. 
But the obsequious courtesy of the Nabob Vizier prevented this 
visit. With a small train he hastened to meet the Governor- 
General. An interview took place in the fortress which, from 



168 WARREN HASTINGS 

the crest of the precipitous rock of Chunar, looks down on the 
waters of the Ganges. 

At first sight it might appear impossible that the negotiation 
should come to an amicable close. Hastings wanted an extraor- 
5 dinary supply of money. Asaph-ul-Dowlah wanted to obtain 
a remission of what he already owed. Such a difference seemed 
to admit of no compromise. There was, however, one course 
satisfactory to both sides, one course by which it was possible 
to relieve the finances both of Oude and of Bengal ; and that 

10 course was adopted. It was simply this, that the Governor- 
General and the Nabob Vizier should join to rob a third party ; 
and the third party whom they determined to rob was the 
parent of one of the robbers. 

The mother of the late Nabob, and his wife, who was the 

15 mother of the present Nabob, were known as the Begums or 
Princesses of Oude. They had possessed great influence over 
Sujah Dowlah, and had, at his death, been left in possession of 
a splendid dotation. The domains of which they received the 
rents and administered the government were of wide extent. 

20 The treasure hoarded by the late Nabob — a treasure which was 
popularly estimated at near three millions sterling — was in their 
hands. They continued to occupy his favorite palace at Fyzabad, 
the Beautiful Dwelling ; while Asaph-ul-Dowlah held his court 
in the stately Lucknow, which he had built for himself on the 

25 shores of the Goomti and had adorned with noble mosques and 
colleges. 

Asaph-ul-Dowlah had already extorted considerable sums 
from his mother. She had at length appealed to the English ; 
and the English had interfered. A solemn compact had been 

30 made, by which she consented to give her son some pecuniary 
assistance, and he in his turn promised never to commit any" 
further invasion of her rights. This compact was formally guar- 
anteed by the Government of Bengal. But times had changed ; 
money was wanted; and the power which had given the 



WARREN HASTINGS 1 69 

guarantee was not ashamed to instigate the spoiler to excesses 
such that even he shrank from them. 

It was necessary to find some pretext for a confiscation 
inconsistent, not merely with plighted faith, not merely with the 
ordinary rules of humanity and justice, but also with that great 5 
law of filial piety which, even in the wildest tribes of savages, 
even in those more degraded communities which wither under 
the influence of a corrupt half civilization, retains a certain 
authority over the human mind. A pretext was the last thing 
that Hastings was likely to want. The insurrection at Benares 10 
had produced disturbances in Oude. These disturbances it was 
convenient to impute to the Princesses. Evidence for the impu- 
tation there was scarcely any ; unless reports wandering from 
one mouth to another, and gaining something by every trans- 
mission, may be called evidence. The accused were furnished 15 
with no charge ; they were permitted to make no defense ; for 
the Governor-General wisely considered that, if he tried them, 
he might not be able to find a ground for plundering them. It 
was agreed between him and the Nabob Vizier that the noble 
ladies should, by a sweeping measure of confiscation, be stripped 20 
of their domains and treasures for the benefit of the Company, 
and that the sums thus obtained should be accepted by the 
Government of Bengal in satisfaction of its claims on the 
Government of Oude. 

While Asaph-ul-Dowlah was at Chunar he was completely 25 
subjugated by the clear and commanding intellect of the English 
statesman. But when they had separated the Vizier began to 
reflect with uneasiness on the engagement into which he had 
entered. His mother and grandmother protested and implored. 
His heart, deeply corrupted by absolute power and licentious 30 
pleasures, yet not naturally unfeeling, failed him in this crisis. 
Even the English resident at Lucknow, though hitherto devoted 
to Hastings, shrank from extreme measures. But the Governor- 
General was inexorable. He wrote to the resident in terms of 



I/O WARREN HASTINGS 

the greatest severity, and declared that if the spoliation which 
had been agreed upon were not instantly carried into effect, 
he would himself go to Lucknow, and do that from which feebler 
minds recoil with dismay. The resident, thus menaced, waited 
5 on his Highness, and insisted that the treaty of Chunar should 
be carried into full and immediate effect. Asaph-ul-Dowlah 
yielded, making at the same time a solemn protestation that 
he yielded to compulsion. The lands were resumed; but the 
treasure was not so easily obtained. It was necessary to use 

10 violence. A body of the Company's troops marched to Fyzabad 
and forced the gates of the palace. The Princesses were con- 
fined to their own apartments. But still they refused to submit. 
Some more stringent mode of coercion was to be found. A mode 
was found of which, even at this distance of time, we cannot 

15 speak without shame and sorrow. 

There were at Fyzabad two ancient men, belonging to that 
unhappy class which a practice, of immemorial antiquity, in 
the East, has excluded from the pleasures of love and from the 
hope of posterity. It has always been held in Asiatic courts 

20 that beings thus estranged from sympathy with their kind are 
those whom princes may most safely trust. Sujah Dowlah had 
been of this opinion. He had given his entire confidence to the 
two eunuchs, and after his death they remained at the head of 
the household of his widow. 

25 These two men were, by the orders of the British Govern- 
ment, seized, imprisoned, ironed, starved almost to death, in 
order to extort money from the Princesses. After they had 
been two months in confinement their health gave way. They 
implored permission to take a little exercise in the garden of 

30 their prison. The officer who was in charge of them stated that, 
if they were allowed this indulgence, there was not the smallest 
chance of their escaping, and that their irons really added 
nothing to the security of the custody in which they were kept. 
He did not understand the plan of his superiors. Their object 



WARREN HASTINGS 1 71 

in these inflictions was not security but torture ; and all mitiga- 
tion was refused. Yet this was not the worst. It was resolved 
by an English government that these two infirm old men should 
be delivered to the tormentors. For that purpose they were re- 
moved to Lucknow. What horrors their dungeon there wit- 5 
nessed can only be guessed. But there remains on the records 
of Parliament this letter, written by a British resident to a 
British soldier. 

" Sir, the Nabob having determined to inflict corporal punish- 
ment upon the prisoners under your guard, this is to desire that 10 
his officers, when they shall come, may have free access to the 
prisoners, and be permitted to do with them as they shall see 
proper." 

While these barbarities were perpetrated at Lucknow the 
Princesses were still under duress at Fyzabad. Food was al- 15 
lowed to enter their apartments only in such scanty quantities 
that their female attendants were in danger of perishing with 
hunger. Month after month this cruelty continued, till at length, 
after twelve hundred thousand pounds had been wrung out of 
the Princesses, Hastings began to think that he had really got 20 
to the bottom of their revenue, and that no rigor could extort 
more. Then at length the wretched men who were detained at 
Lucknow regained their liberty. When their irons were knocked 
off and the doors of their prison opened, their quivering lips, 
the tears which ran down their cheeks, and the thanksgivings 25 
which they poured forth to the common Father of Mussulmans 
and Christians melted even the stout hearts of the English 
warriors who stood by. 

There is a man to whom the conduct of Hastings, through 
the whole of these proceedings, appears not only excusable but 30 
laudable. There is a man who tells us that he " must really be 
pardoned if he ventures to characterize as something preemi- 
nently ridiculous and wicked, the sensibility which would bal- 
ance against the preservation of British India a little personal 



172 WARREN HASTINGS 

suffering, which was applied only so long as the sufferers refused 
to deliver up a portion of that wealth, the whole of which their 
own and their mistresses' treason had forfeited." We cannot, 
we must own, envy the reverend biographer either his singular 
5 notion of what constitutes preeminent wickedness, or his equally 
singular perception of the preeminently ridiculous. Is this the 
generosity of an English soldier ? Is this the charity of a Chris- 
tian priest ? Could neither of Mr. Gleig's professions teach him 
the first rudiments of morality ? Or is morality a thing which 

10 may be well enough in sermons, but which has nothing to do 
with biography ? 

But we must not forget to do justice to Sir Elijah Impey's 
conduct on this occasion. It was not, indeed, easy for him to 
intrude himself into a business so entirely alien from all his of- 

15 ficial duties. But there was something inexpressibly alluring, 
we must suppose, in the peculiar rankness of the infamy which 
was then to be got at Lucknow. He hurried thither as fast as 
relays of palanquin bearers could carry him. A crowd of people 
came before him with affidavits against the Begums, ready drawn 

20 in their hands. Those affidavits he did not read. Some of them, 
indeed, he could not read ; for they were in the dialects of North- 
ern India, and no interpreter was employed. He administered 
the oath to the deponents with all possible expedition, and asked 
not a single question, not even whether they had perused the 

25 statements to which they swore. This work performed, he got 
again into his palanquin and posted back to Calcutta, to be in 
time for the opening of term. The cause was one which, by 
his own confession, lay altogether out of his jurisdiction. Under 
the charter of justice he had no more right to inquire into 

30 crimes committed by natives in Oude than the Lord President 
of the Court of Session of Scotland to hold an assize at Exeter. 
He had no right to try the Begums, nor did he pretend to try 
them. With what object, then, did he undertake so long a 
journey ? Evidently in order that he might give, in an irregular 



WARREN HASTINGS 1 73 

manner, that sanction which in a regular manner he could not 
give to the crimes of those who had recently hired him ; and 
in order that a confused mass of testimony which he did not 
sift, which he did not even read, might acquire an authority, not 
properly belonging to it, from the signature of the highest judi- 5 
cial functionary in India. 

The time was approaching, however, when he was to be 
stripped of that robe which has never, since the Revolution, been 
disgraced so foully as by him. The state of India had for some 
time occupied much of the attention of the British Parliament. 10 
Towards the close of the American war two committees of the 
Commons sat on Eastern affairs. In one Edmund Burke took 
the lead. The other was under the presidency of the able and 
versatile Henry Dundas, then Lord Advocate of Scotland. Great 
as are the changes which, during the last sixty years, have taken 1 5 
place in our Asiatic dominions, the reports which those com- 
mittees laid on the table of the House will still be found most 
interesting and instructive. 

There was as yet no connection between the Company and 
either of the great parties in the state. The ministers had no 20 
motive to defend Indian abuses. On the contrary, it was for 
their interest to show, if possible, that the government and 
patronage of our . Oriental empire might, with advantage, be 
transferred to themselves. The votes, therefore, which, in con- 
sequence of the reports made by the two committees, were 25 
passed by the Commons breathed the spirit of stern and in- 
dignant justice. The severest epithets were applied to several 
of the measures of Hastings, especially to the Rohilla war ; and 
it was resolved, on the motion of Mr. Dundas, that the Com- 
pany ought to recall a Governor-General who had brought such 30 
calamities on the Indian people and such dishonor on the British 
name. An act was passed for limiting the jurisdiction of the 
Supreme Court. The bargain which Hastings had made with 
the Chief Justice was condemned in the strongest terms ; and 



174 WARREN HASTINGS 

an address was presented to the King, praying that Impey 
might be ordered home to answer for his misdeeds. 

Impey was recalled by a letter from the Secretary of State. 
But the proprietors of India Stock resolutely refused to dismiss 
5 Hastings from their service, and passed a resolution affirming, 
what was undeniably true, that they were intrusted by law with 
the right of naming and removing their Governor-General, and 
that they were not bound to obey the directions of a single 
branch of the legislature with respect to such nomination or 

10 removal. 

Thus supported by his employers, Hastings remained at the 
head of the Government of Bengal till the spring of 1785. His 
administration, so eventful and stormy, closed in almost perfect 
quiet. In the Council there was no regular opposition to his 

15 measures. Peace was restored to India. The Mahratta war had 
ceased. Hyder was no more. A treaty had been concluded 
with his son, Tippoo ; and the Carnatic had been evacuated by 
the armies of Mysore. Since the termination of the American 
war England had no European enemy or rival in the East- 

20 ern seas. 

On a general review of the long administration of Hastings 
it is impossible to deny that, against the great crimes by which 
it is blemished, we have to set off great public services. England 
had passed through a perilous crisis. She still, indeed, main- 

25 tained her place in the foremost rank of European powers ; and 
the manner in which she had defended herself against fearful 
odds had inspired surrounding nations with a high opinion both 
of her spirit and of her strength. Nevertheless, in every part 
of the world, except one, she had been a loser. Not only had 

30 she been compelled to acknowledge the independence of thirteen 
colonies peopled by her children, and to conciliate the Irish by 
giving up the right of legislating for them ; but, in the Medi- 
terranean, in the Gulf of Mexico, on the coast of Africa, on the 
continent of America, she had been compelled to cede the fruits 



WARREN HASTINGS 1 75 

of her victories in former wars. Spain regained Minorca and 
Florida; France regained Senegal, Goree, and several West 
Indian islands. The only quarter of the world in which Britain 
had lost nothing was the quarter in which her interests had 
been committed to the care of Hastings. In spite of the utmost 5 
exertions both of European and Asiatic enemies, the power of 
our country in the East had been greatly augmented. Benares 
was subjected ; the Nabob Vizier reduced to vassalage. That 
our influence had been thus extended, nay, that Fort William 
and Fort St. George had not been occupied by hostile armies, 10 
was owing, if we may trust the general voice of the English in 
India, to the skill and resolution of Hastings. 

His internal administration, with all its blemishes, gives him 
a title to be considered as one of the most remarkable men in 
our history. He dissolved the double government. He trans- 15 
ferred the direction of affairs to English hands. Out of a frightful 
anarchy he educed at least a rude and imperfect order. The 
whole organization by which justice was dispensed, revenue col- 
lected, peace maintained throughout a territory not inferior in 
population to the dominions of Louis the Sixteenth or of the 20 
Emperor Joseph, was formed and superintended by him. He 
boasted that every public office, without exception, which existed 
when he left Bengal, was his creation. It is quite true that this 
system, after all the improvements suggested by the experience 
of sixty years, still needs improvement, and that it was at first 25 
far more defective than it now is. But whoever seriously con- 
siders what it is to construct from the beginning the whole of 
a machine so vast and complex as a government will allow that 
what Hastings effected deserves high admiration. To compare 
the most celebrated European ministers to him seems to us as 30 
unjust as it would be to compare the best baker in London with 
Robinson Crusoe, who, before he could bake a single loaf, had to 
make his plow and his harrow, his fences and his scarecrows, 
his sickle and his flail, his mill and his oven. 



176 WARREN HASTINGS 

The just fame of Hastings rises still higher, when we reflect 

that he was not bred a statesman ; that he was sent from school 

to a countinghouse ; and that he was employed during the 

prime of his manhood as a commercial agent, far from all 

5 intellectual society. 

Nor must we forget that all, or almost all, to whom, when 
placed at the head of affairs, he could apply for assistance, were 
persons who owed as little as himself, or less than himself, to 
education. A minister in Europe finds himself, on the first day 

10 on which he commences his functions, surrounded by experi- 
enced public servants, the depositories of official traditions. 
Hastings had no such help. His own reflection, his own energy, 
were to supply the place of all Downing Street and Somerset 
House. Having had no facilities for learning, he was forced to 

15 teach. He had first to form himself, and then to form his in- 
struments ; and this not in a single department, but in all the 
departments of the administration. 

It must be added that, while engaged in this most arduous 
task, he was constantly trammeled by orders from home and 

20 frequently borne down by a majority in Council. The preserva- 
tion of an Empire from a formidable combination of foreign 
enemies, the construction of a government in all its parts, were 
accomplished by him, while every ship brought out bales of 
censure from his employers, and while the records of every con- 

25 sultation were filled with acrimonious minutes by his colleagues. 
We believe that there never was a public man whose temper 
was so severely tried ; not Marlborough, when thwarted by the 
Dutch Deputies ; not Wellington, when he had to deal at once 
with the Portuguese Regency, the Spanish Juntas, and Mr. 

30 Percival. But the temper of Hastings was equal to almost 
any trial. It was not sweet ; but it was calm. Quick and vigor- 
ous as his intellect was, the patience with which he endured the 
most cruel vexations, till a remedy could be found, resembled 
the patience of stupidity. He seems to have been capable of 



WARREN HASTINGS 177 

resentment, bitter and long-enduring; yet his resentment so 
seldom hurried him into any blunder that it may be doubted 
whether what appeared to be revenge was anything but policy. 

The effect of this singular equanimity was that he always had 
the full command of all the resources of one of the most fertile 5 
minds that ever existed. Accordingly no complication of perils 
and embarrassments could perplex him. For every difficulty he 
had a contrivance ready ; and, whatever may be thought of the 
justice and humanity of some of his contrivances, it is certain 
that they seldom failed to serve the purpose for which they 10 
were designed. 

Together with this extraordinary talent for devising expedi- 
ents, Hastings possessed, in a very high degree, another talent 
scarcely less necessary to a man in his situation ; we mean the 
talent for conducting political controversy. It is as necessary to 1 5 
an English statesman in the East that he should be able to write, 
as it is to a minister in this country that he should be able to 
speak. It is chiefly by the oratory of a public man here that the 
nation judges of his powers. It is from the letters and reports 
of a public man in India that the dispensers of patronage form 20 
their estimate of him. In each case the talent which receives 
peculiar encouragement is developed, perhaps at the expense of 
the other powers. In this country we sometimes hear men 
speak above their abilities. It is not very unusual to find gentle- 
men in the Indian service who write above their abilities. The 25 
English politician is a little too much of a debater ; the Indian 
politician is a little too much of an essayist. 

Of the numerous servants of the Company who have dis- 
tinguished themselves as framers of minutes and dispatches, 
Hastings stands at the head. He was, indeed, the person who 30 
gave to the official writing of the Indian governments the charac- 
ter which it still retains. He was matched against no common 
antagonist. But even Francis was forced to acknowledge, with 
sullen and resentful candor, that there was no contending against 



178 WARREN HASTINGS 

the pen of Hastings. And, in truth, the Governor-General's 
power of making out a case, of perplexing what it was incon- 
venient that people should understand, and of setting in the 
clearest point of view whatever would bear the light, was incom- 
5 parable. His style must be praised with some reservation. It 
was in general forcible, pure, and polished; but it was some- 
times, though not often, turgid, and, on one or two occasions, 
even bombastic. Perhaps the fondness of Hastings for Persian 
literature may have tended to corrupt his taste. 

10 And, since we have referred to his literary tastes, it would be 
most unjust not to praise the judicious encouragement which, as 
a ruler, he gave to liberal studies and curious researches. His 
patronage was extended, with prudent generosity, to voyages, 
travels, experiments, publications. He did little, it is true, to- 

1 5 wards introducing into India the learning of the West. To make 
the young natives of Bengal familiar with Milton and Adam 
Smith, to substitute the geography, astronomy, and surgery of 
Europe for the dotages of the Brahminical superstition, or for 
the imperfect science of ancient Greece transfused through 

20 Arabian expositions, this was a scheme reserved to crown the 
beneficent administration of a far more virtuous ruler. Still, it 
is impossible to refuse high commendation to a man who, taken 
from a ledger to govern an empire, overwhelmed by public 
business, surrounded by people as busy as himself, and separated 

25 by thousands of leagues from almost all literary society, gave, 
both by his example and by his munificence, a great impulse to 
learning. In Persian and Arabic literature he was deeply skilled. 
With the Sanskrit he was not himself acquainted ; but those who 
first brought that language to the knowledge of European 

30 students owed much to his encouragement. It was under his 
protection that the Asiatic Society commenced its honorable 
career. That distinguished body selected him to be its first pres- 
ident ; but, with excellent taste and feeling, he declined the honor 
in favor of Sir William Jones. But the chief advantage which 



WARREN HASTINGS 1 79 

the students of Oriental letters derived from his patronage re- 
mains to be mentioned. The Pundits of Bengal had always 
looked with great jealousy on the attempts of foreigners to pry 
into those mysteries which were locked up in the sacred dialect. 
Their religion had been persecuted by the Mohammedans. 5 
What they knew of the spirit of the Portuguese Government 
might warrant them in apprehending persecution from Chris- 
tians. That apprehension the wisdom and moderation of Hast- 
ings removed. He was the first foreign ruler who succeeded in 
gaining the confidence of the hereditary priests of India, and 10 
who induced them to lay open to English scholars the secrets 
of the old Brahminical theology and jurisprudence. 

It is indeed impossible to deny that, in the great art of inspir- 
ing large masses of human beings with confidence and attach- 
ment, no ruler ever surpassed Hastings. If he had made him- 15 
self popular with the English by giving up the Bengalese to 
extortion and oppression, or if, on the other hand, he had con- 
ciliated the Bengalese and alienated the English, there would 
have been no cause for wonder. What is peculiar to him is that, 
being the chief of a small band of strangers who exercised 20 
boundless power over a great indigenous population, he made 
himself beloved both by the subject many and by the dominant 
few. The affection felt for him by the civil service was singu- 
larly ardent and constant. Through all his disasters and perils 
his brethren stood by him with steadfast loyalty. The army, at 25 
the same time, loved him as armies have seldom loved any but 
the greatest chiefs who have led them to victory. Even in his 
disputes with distinguished military men he could always count 
on the support of the military profession. While such was his 
empire over the hearts of his countrymen, he enjoyed among 30 
the natives a popularity such as other governors have perhaps 
better merited, but such as no other governor has been able to 
attain. He spoke their vernacular dialects with facility and pre- 
cision. He was intimately acquainted with their feelings and 



180 WARREN HASTINGS 

usages. On one or two occasions, for great ends, he deliberately 
acted in defiance of their opinion ; but on such occasions he 
gained more in their respect than he lost in their love. In gen- 
eral he carefully avoided all that could shock their national or 
5 religious prejudices. His administration was indeed in many 
respects faulty ; but the Bengalese standard of good government 
was not high. Under the Nabobs the hurricane of Mahratta 
cavalry had passed annually over the rich alluvial plain. But 
even the Mahratta shrank from a conflict with the mighty chil- 

10 dren of the sea ; and the immense rice harvests of the Lower 
Ganges were safely gathered in, under the protection of the 
English sword; The first English conquerors had been more 
rapacious and merciless even than the Mahrattas ; but that gen- 
eration had passed away. Defective as was the police, heavy as 

15 were the public burdens, it is probable that the oldest man in 
Bengal could not recollect a season of equal security and pros- 
perity. For the first time within living memory the province 
was placed under a government strong enough to prevent others 
from robbing, and not inclined to play the robber itself. These 

20 things inspired good will. At the same time the constant success 
of Hastings and the manner in which he extricated himself from 
every difficulty made him an object of superstitious admiration ; 
and the more than regal splendor which he sometimes displayed 
dazzled a people who have much in common with children. 

25 Even now, after the lapse of more than fifty years, the natives 
of India still talk of him as the greatest of the English ; and 
nurses sing children to sleep with a jingling ballad about the 
fleet horses and richly caparisoned elephants of Sahib Warren 
Hostein. 

30 The gravest offenses of which Hastings was guilty did not 
affect his popularity with the people of Bengal ; for those 
offenses were committed against neighboring states. Those 
offenses, as our readers must have perceived, we are not dis- 
posed to vindicate ; yet, in order that the censure may be justly 



WARREN HASTINGS l8l 

apportioned to the transgression, it is fit that the motive of the 
criminal should be taken into consideration. The motive which 
prompted the worst acts of Hastings was misdirected and ill- 
regulated public spirit. The rules of justice, the sentiments of 
humanity, the plighted faith of treaties, were in his view as 5 
nothing, when opposed to the immediate interest of the state. 
This is no justification, according to the principles either of 
morality, or of what we believe to be identical with morality, 
namely, far-sighted policy. Nevertheless the common sense of 
mankind, which in questions of this sort seldom goes far wrong, 10 
will always recognize a distinction between crimes which origi- 
nate in an inordinate zeal for the commonwealth, and crimes 
which originate in selfish cupidity. To the benefit of this distinc- 
tion Hastings is fairly entitled. There is, we conceive, no reason 
to suspect that the Rohilla war, the revolution of Benares, or 1 5 
the spoliation of the Princesses of Oude added a rupee to his 
fortune. We will not affirm that, in all pecuniary dealings, he 
showed that punctilious integrity, that dread of the faintest 
appearance of evil, which is now the glory of the Indian civil 
service. But when the school in which he had been trained and 20 
the temptations to which he was exposed are considered, we are 
more inclined to praise him for his general uprightness with 
respect to money, than rigidly to blame him for a few transac- 
tions which would now be called indelicate and irregular, but 
which even now would hardly be designated as corrupt. A rapa- 25 
cious man he certainly was not. Had he been so, he would in- 
fallibly have returned to his country the richest subject in 
Europe. We speak within compass when we say that, without 
applying any extraordinary pressure, he might easily have 
obtained from the zemindars of the Company's provinces and 30 
from neighboring princes, in the course of thirteen years, more 
than three millions sterling, and might have outshone the splen- 
dor of Carlton House and of the Palais Royal. He brought 
home a fortune such as a Governor-General, fond of state and 



1 82 WARREN HASTINGS 

careless of thrift, might easily, during so long a tenure of 
office, save out of his legal salary. Mrs. Hastings, we are 
afraid, was less scrupulous. It was generally believed that 
she accepted presents with great alacrity, and that she thus 
5 formed, without the connivance of her husband, a private 
hoard amounting to several lacs of rupees. We are the more 
inclined to give credit to this story, because Mr. Gleig, who 
cannot but have heard it, does not, as far as we have observed, 
notice or contradict it. 

io The influence of Mrs. Hastings over her husband was indeed 
such that she might easily have obtained much larger sums than 
she was ever accused of receiving. At length her health began 
to give way ; and the Governor-General, much against his will, 
was compelled to send her to England. He seems to have loved 

1 5 her with that love which is peculiar to men of strong minds, to 
men whose affection is not easily won or widely diffused. The 
talk of Calcutta ran for some time on the luxurious manner in 
which he fitted up the roundhouse of an Indiaman for her ac- 
commodation, on the profusion of sandalwood and carved ivory 

20 which adorned her cabin, and on the thousands of rupees which 
had been expended in order to procure for her the society of 
an agreeable female companion during the voyage. We may 
remark here that the letters of Hastings to his wife are exceed- 
ingly characteristic. They are tender and full of indications of 

25 esteem and confidence, but at the same time a little more cere- 
monious than is usual in so intimate a relation. The solemn 
courtesy with which he compliments " his elegant Marian " 
reminds us now and then of the dignified air with which Sir 
Charles Grandison bowed over Miss Byron's hand in the cedar 

30 parlor. 

After some months Hastings prepared to follow his wife to 
England. When it was announced that he was about to quit his 
office, the feeling of the society which he had so long governed 
manifested itself by many signs. Addresses poured in from 



WARREN HASTINGS 1 83 

Europeans and Asiatics, from civil functionaries, soldiers, and 
traders. On the day on which he delivered up the keys of 
office, a crowd of friends and admirers formed a lane to the 
quay where he embarked. Several barges escorted him far 
down the river; and some attached friends refused to quit 5 
him till the low coast of Bengal was fading from the view, and 
till the pilot was leaving the ship. 

Of his voyage little is known, except that he amused himself 
with books and with his pen ; and that among the compositions 
by which he beguiled the tediousness of that long leisure was a 10 
pleasing imitation of Horace's Otium divos rogat. This little 
poem was inscribed to Mr. Shore, afterwards Lord Teignmouth, 
a man of whose integrity, humanity, and honor it is impossible 
to speak too highly ; but who, like some other excellent mem- 
bers of the civil service, extended to the conduct of his friend 15 
Hastings an indulgence of which his own conduct never stood 
in need. 

The voyage was, for those times, very speedy. Hastings was 
little more than four months on the sea. In June, 1785, he 
landed at Plymouth, posted to London, appeared at Court, paid 20 
his respects in Leadenhall Street, and then retired with his wife 
to Cheltenham. 

He was greatly pleased with his reception. The King treated 
him with marked distinction. The Queen, who had already in- 
curred much censure on account of the favor which, in spite of 25 
the ordinary severity of her virtue, she had shown to the "ele- 
gant Marian," was not less gracious to Hastings. The Directors 
received him in a solemn sitting ; and their chairman read to 
him a vote of thanks which they had passed without one dis- 
sentient voice. " I find myself," said Hastings, in a letter 30 
written about a quarter of a year after his arrival in England, 
" I find myself everywhere, and universally, treated with evi- 
dences, apparent even to my own observation, that I possess 
the good opinion of my country." 



1 84 WARREN HASTINGS 

The confident and exulting tone of his correspondence about 
this time is the more remarkable because he had already re- 
ceived ample notice of the attack which was in preparation. 
Within a week after he landed at Plymouth, Burke gave notice 
5 in the House of Commons of a motion seriously affecting a 
gentleman lately returned from India. The session, however, 
was then so far advanced that it was impossible to enter on so 
extensive and important a subject. 

Hastings, it is clear, was not sensible of the danger of his 

10 position. Indeed, that sagacity, that judgment, that readiness 
in devising expedients, which had distinguished him in the East, 
seemed now to have forsaken him ; not that his abilities were 
at all impaired ; not that he was not still the same man who had 
triumphed over Francis and Nuncomar, who had made the Chief 

i s Justice and the Nabob Vizier his tools, who had deposed Cheyte 
Sing, and repelled Hyder Ali. But an oak, as Mr. Grattan finely 
said, should not be transplanted at fifty. A man who, having 
left England when a boy, returns to it after thirty or forty years 
passed in India, will find, be his talents what they may, that he 

20 has much both to learn and to unlearn before he can take a 
place among English statesmen. The working of a representa- 
tive system, the war of parties, the arts of debate, the influence 
of the press, are startling novelties to him. Surrounded on every 
side by new machines and new tactics, he is as much bewildered 

25 as Hannibal would have been at Waterloo, or Therhistocles at 
Trafalgar. His very acuteness deludes him. His very vigor 
causes him to stumble. The more correct his maxims, when 
applied to the state of society to which he is accustomed, the 
more certain they are to lead him astray. This was strikingly 

30 the case with Hastings. In India he had a bad hand ; but he 
was master of the game, and he won every stake. In England 
he held excellent cards, if he had known how to play them ; 
and it was chiefly by his own errors that he was brought to the 
verge of ruin. 



WARREN HASTINGS 1 85 

Of all his errors the most serious was perhaps the choice 
of a champion. Clive, in similar circumstances, had made a 
singularly happy selection. He put himself into the hands of 
Wedderburn, afterwards Lord Loughborough, one of the few 
great advocates who have also been great in the House of 5 
Commons. To the defense of Clive, therefore, nothing was 
wanting, neither learning nor knowledge of the world, neither 
forensic acuteness nor that eloquence which charms political 
assemblies. Hastings intrusted his interests to a very different 
person, a major in the Bengal army, named Scott. This gentle- 10 
man had been sent over from India some time before as the 
agent of the Governor-General. It was rumored that his services 
were rewarded with Oriental munificence ; and we believe that 
he received much more than Hastings could conveniently 
spare. The Major obtained a seat in Parliament, and was 15 
there regarded as the organ of his employer. It was evidently 
impossible that a gentleman so situated could speak with the 
authority which belongs to an independent position. Nor had 
the agent of Hastings the talents necessary for obtaining the 
ear of an assembly which, accustomed to listen to great orators, 20 
had naturally become fastidious. He was always on his legs ; 
he was very tedious ; and he had only one topic, the merits and 
wrongs of Hastings. Everybody who knows the House of 
Commons will easily guess what followed. The Major was soon 
considered as the greatest bore of his time. His exertions were 25 
not confined to Parliament. There was hardly a day on which 
the newspapers did not contain some puff upon Hastings signed 
by Asiaticus or Henga/ensis, but known to be written by the in- 
defatigable Scott; and hardly a month in which some bulky 
pamphlet on the same subject, and from the same pen, did not 30 
pass to the trunk makers and the pastry cooks. As to this 
gentleman's capacity for conducting a delicate question through 
Parliament, our readers will want no evidence beyond that which 
they will find in letters preserved in these volumes. We will give 



1 86 WARREN HASTINGS 

a single specimen of his temper and judgment. He designated 
the greatest man then living as " that reptile Mr. Burke." 

In spite, however, of this unfortunate choice, the general 
aspect of affairs was favorable to Hastings. The King was on 
5 his side. The Company and its servants were zealous in his 
cause. Among public men he had many ardent friends. Such 
were Lord Mansfield, who had outlived the vigor of his body, 
but not that of his mind ; and Lord Lansdowne, who, though 
unconnected with any party, retained the importance which 

10 belongs to great talents and knowledge. The ministers were 
generally believed to be favorable to the late Governor-General. 
They owed their power to the clamor which had been raised 
against Mr. Fox's East India Bill. The authors of that bill, 
when accused of invading vested rights, and of setting up 

15 powers unknown to the constitution, had defended them- 
selves by pointing to the crimes of Hastings, and by arguing 
that abuses so extraordinary justified extraordinary measures. 
Those who, by opposing that bill, had raised themselves to 
the head of affairs, would naturally be inclined to extenuate 

20 the evils which had been made the plea for administering so 
violent a remedy; and such, in fact, was their general disposi- 
tion. The Lord Chancellor Thurlow, in particular, whose great 
place and force of intellect gave him a weight in the Govern- 
ment inferior only to that of Mr. Pitt, espoused the cause of 

25 Hastings with indecorous violence. Mr. Pitt, though he had 
censured many parts of the Indian system, had studiously ab- 
stained from saying a word against the late chief of the Indian 
government. To Major Scott, indeed, the young minister had 
in private extolled Hastings as a great, a wonderful man, who 

30 had the highest claims on the Government. There was only one 
objection to granting all that so eminent a servant of the public 
could ask. The resolution of censure still remained on the 
Journals of the House of Commons. That resolution was, 
indeed, unjust ; but, till it was rescinded, could the minister 



WARREN HASTINGS 1 87 

advise the King to bestow any mark of approbation on the person 
censured? If Major Scott is to be trusted, Mr. Pitt declared 
that this was the only reason which prevented the Government 
from conferring a peerage on the late Governor-General. Mr. 
Dundas was the only important member of the administration 5 
who was deeply committed to a different view of the subject. 
He had moved the resolutions which created the difficulty ; but 
even from him little was to be apprehended. Since he presided 
over the committee on Eastern affairs, great changes had taken 
place. He was surrounded by new allies ; he had fixed his 10 
hopes on new objects; and whatever may have been his good 
qualities, — and he had many, — flattery itself never reckoned 
rigid consistency in the number. 

From the ministry,, therefore, Hastings had every reason to 
expect support ; and the ministry was very powerful. The 1 5 
Opposition was loud and vehement against him. But the Oppo- 
sition, though formidable from the wealth and influence of some 
of its members, and from the admirable talents and eloquence 
of others, was outnumbered in Parliament and odious through- 
out the country. Nor, as far as we can judge, was the Opposi- 20 
tion generally desirous to engage in so serious an undertaking 
as the impeachment of an Indian Governor. Such an impeach- 
ment must last for years. It must impose on the chiefs of the 
party an immense load of labor. Yet it could scarcely, in any 
manner, affect the event of the great political game. The fol- 25 
lowers of the coalition were therefore more inclined to revile 
Hastings than to prosecute him. They lost no opportunity of 
coupling his name with the names of the most hateful tyrants 
of whom history makes mention. The wits of Brooks's aimed 
their keenest sarcasms both at his public and at his domestic 30 
life. Some fine diamonds which he had presented, as it was 
rumored, to the royal family, and a certain richly carved ivory 
bed which the Queen had done him the honor to accept from 
him, were favorite subjects of ridicule. One lively poet proposed 



1 88 WARREN HASTINGS 

that the great acts of the fair Marian's present husband should 
be immortalized by the pencil of his predecessor; and that 
Imhoff should be employed to embellish the House of Commons 
with paintings of the bleeding Rohillas, of Nuncomar swinging, 
5 of Cheyte Sing letting himself down to the Ganges. Another, 
in an exquisitely humorous parody of Vergil's third eclogue, 
propounded the question what that mineral could be, of which 
the rays had power to make the most austere of princesses 
the friend of a wanton. A third described, with gay malevo- 

10 lence, the gorgeous appearance of Mrs. Hastings at St. James's, 
the galaxy of jewels, torn from Indian Begums, which adorned 
her headdress, her necklace gleaming with future votes, and the 
depending questions that shone upon her ears. Satirical attacks 
of this description, and perhaps a motion for a vote of censure, 

15 would have satisfied the great body of the Opposition. But 
there were two men whose indignation was not to be so ap- 
peased, Philip Francis and Edmund Burke. 

Francis had recently entered the House of Commons, and 
had already established a character there for industry and talent. 

20 He labored indeed under one most unfortunate defect, want of 
fluency. But he occasionally expressed himself with a dignity 
and energy worthy of the greatest orators. Before he had been 
many days in Parliament, he incurred the bitter dislike of Pitt, 
who constantly treated him with as much asperity as the laws of 

25 debate would allow. Neither lapse of years nor change of scene 
had mitigated the enmities which Francis had brought back 
from the East. After his usual fashion, he mistook his malev- 
olence for virtue, nursed it, as preachers tell us that we ought 
to nurse our good dispositions, and paraded it, on all occasions, 

30 with Pharisaical ostentation. 

The zeal of Burke was still fiercer; but it was far purer. 
Men unable to understand the elevation of his mind have tried 
to find out some discreditable motive for the vehemence and 
pertinacity which he showed on this occasion. But they have 



WARREN HASTINGS 1 89 

altogether failed. The idle story that he had some private slight 
to revenge has long been given up, even by the advocates of 
Hastings. Mr. Gleig supposes that Burke was actuated by 
party spirit, that he retained a bitter remembrance of the fall of 
the coalition, that he attributed that fall to the exertions of the 5 
East India interest, and that he considered Hastings as the head 
and the representative of that interest. This explanation seems 
to be sufficiently refuted by a reference to dates. The hostility of 
Burke to Hastings commenced long before the coalition ; and 
lasted long after Burke had become a strenuous supporter of 10 
those by whom the coalition had been defeated. It began when 
Burke and Fox, closely allied together, were attacking the influ- 
ence of the crown and calling for peace with the American 
republic. It continued till Burke, alienated from Fox and loaded 
with the favors of the crown, died, preaching a crusade against 15 
the French republic. It seems absurd to attribute to the events 
of 1784 an enmity which began in 1781, and which retained 
undiminished force long after persons far more deeply implicated 
than Hastings in the events of 1784 had been cordially forgiven. 
And why should we look for any other explanation of Burke's 20 
conduct than that which we find on the surface ? The plain 
truth is that Hastings had committed some great crimes, and 
that the thought of those crimes made the blood of Burke 
boil in his veins. For Burke was a man in whom compassion 
for suffering and hatred of injustice and tyranny were as 25 
strong as in Las Casas or Clarkson. And although in him, as 
in Las Casas and in Clarkson, these noble feelings were alloyed 
with the infirmity which belongs to human nature, he is, like 
them, entitled to this great praise, that he devoted years of 
intense labor to the service of a people with whom he had neither 30 
blood nor language, neither religion nor manners in common, and 
from whom no requital, no thanks, no applause could be expected. 
His knowledge of India was such as few even of those Euro- 
peans who have passed many years in that country have attained, 



190 WARREN HASTINGS 

and such as certainly was never attained by any public man who 
had not quitted Europe. He had studied the history, the laws, 
and the usages of the East with an industry such as is seldom 
found united to so much genius and so much sensibility. Others 
5 have perhaps been equally laborious, and have collected an equal 
mass of materials. But the manner in which Burke brought his 
higher powers of intellect to work on statements of facts and 
on tables of figures was peculiar to himself. In every part of 
those huge bales of Indian information which repelled almost all 

10 other readers, his mind, at once philosophical and poetical, found 
something to instruct or to delight. His reason analyzed and 
digested those vast and shapeless masses ; his imagination ani- 
mated and colored them. Out of darkness, and dullness, and 
confusion, he formed a multitude of ingenious theories and vivid 

15 pictures. He had, in the highest degree, that noble faculty 
whereby man is able to live in the past and in the future, in the 
distant and in the unreal. India and its inhabitants were not to 
him, as to most Englishmen, mere names and abstractions, but 
a real country and a real people. The burning sun, the strange 

20 vegetation of the palm and the cocoa tree, the rice field, the tank, 
the huge trees, older than the Mogul empire, under which the 
village crowds assemble, the thatched roof of the peasant's hut, 
the rich tracery of the mosque where the imaum prays with his 
face to Mecca, the drums, and banners, and gaudy idols, the dev- 

25 otees swinging in the air, the graceful maiden, with the pitcher 

on her head, descending the steps to the riverside, the black 

faces, the long beards, the yellow streaks of sect, the turbans 

" and the flowing robes, the spears and the silver maces, the 

elephants with their canopies of state, the gorgeous palanquin 

30 of the prince, and the close litter of the noble lady, all those 
things were to him as the objects amidst which his own life had 
been passed, as the objects which lay on the road between 
Beaconsfield and St. James's Street. All India was present to 
the eye of his mind, from the halls where suitors laid gold and 



WARREN HASTINGS 19 1 

perfumes at the feet of sovereigns, to the wild moor where the 
gypsy camp was pitched ; from the bazaars, humming like bee- 
hives with the crowd of buyers and sellers, to the jungle where 
the lonely courier shakes his bunch of iron rings to scare away 
the hyenas. He had just as lively an idea of the insurrection at 5 
Benares as of Lord George Gordon's riots, and of the execu- 
tion of Nuncomar as of the execution of Dr. Dodd. Oppression 
in Bengal was to him the same thing as oppression in the streets 
of London. 

He saw that Hastings had been guilty of some most unjustifi- 10 
able acts. All that followed was natural and necessary in a mind 
like Burke's. His imagination and his passions, once excited, 
hurried him beyond the bounds of justice and good sense. His 
reason, powerful as it was, became the slave of feelings which 
it should have controlled. His indignation, virtuous in its origin, 1 5 
acquired too much of the character of personal aversion. He 
could see no mitigating circumstance, no redeeming merit. 
His temper, which, though generous and affectionate, had al- 
ways been irritable, had now been made almost savage by 
bodily infirmities and mental vexations. Conscious of great 20 
powers and great virtues, he found himself, in age and poverty, 
a mark for the hatred of a perfidious court and a deluded 
people. In Parliament his eloquence was out of date. A young 
generation, which knew him not, had filled the House. When- 
ever he rose to speak, his voice was drowned by the unseemly 25 
interruptions of lads who were in their cradles when his orations 
on the Stamp Act called forth the applause of the great Earl of 
Chatham. These things had produced on his proud and sensi- 
tive spirit an effect at which we cannot wonder. He could no 
longer discuss any question with calmness or make allowance 30 
for honest differences of opinion. Those who think that he was 
more violent and acrimonious in debates about India than on 
other occasions are ill informed respecting the last years of his 
life. In the discussions on the Commercial Treaty with the 



192 WARREN HASTINGS 

Court of Versailles, on the Regency, on the French Revolution, 
he showed even more virulence than in conducting the impeach- 
ment. Indeed, it may be remarked that the very persons who 
called him a mischievous maniac, for condemning in burning 
5 words the Rohilla war and the spoliation of the Begums, exalted 
him into a prophet as soon as he began to declaim, with greater 
vehemence and not with greater reason, against the taking of 
the Bastille and the insults offered to Marie Antoinette. To us 
he appears to have been neither a maniac in the former case, 

10 nor a prophet in the latter, but in both cases a great and good 
man, led into extravagance by a tempestuous sensibility which 
domineered over all his faculties. 

It may be doubted whether the personal antipathy of Francis 
or the nobler indignation of Burke would have led their party 

1 5 to adopt extreme measures against Hastings, if his own conduct 
had been judicious. He should have felt that, great as his public 
services had been, he was not faultless ; and should have been 
content to make his escape, without aspiring to the honors of a 
triumph. He and his agent took a different view. They were 

20 impatient for the rewards which, as they conceived, were de- 
ferred only till Burke's attack should be over. They accordingly 
resolved to force on a decisive action, with an enemy for whom, 
if they had been wise, they would have made a bridge of gold. 
On the first day of the session of 1786 Major Scott reminded 

25 Burke of the notice given in the preceding year, and asked 
whether it was seriously intended to bring any charge against 
the late Governor-General. This challenge left no course open 
to the Opposition except to come forward as accusers or to 
acknowledge themselves calumniators. The administration of 

30 Hastings had not been so blameless, nor was the great party 
of Fox and North so feeble, that it could be prudent to venture 
on so bold a defiance. The leaders of the Opposition instantly 
returned the only answer which they could with honor return ; 
and the whole party was irrevocably pledged to a prosecution. 



WARREN HASTINGS 193 

Burke began his operations by applying for papers. Some 
of the documents for which he asked were refused by the 
ministers, who, in the debate, held language such as strongly 
confirmed the prevailing opinion that they intended to sup- 
port Hastings. In April the charges were laid on the table. 5 
They had been drawn by Burke with great ability, though in a 
form too much resembling that of a pamphlet. Hastings was 
furnished with a copy of the accusation ; and it was intimated 
to him that he might, if he thought fit, be heard in his own 
defense at the bar of the Commons. 10 

Here again Hastings was pursued by the same fatality which 
had attended him ever since the day when he set foot on 
English ground. It seemed to be decreed that this man, so 
politic and so successful in the East, should commit nothing but 
blunders in Europe. Any judicious adviser would have told him 15 
that the best thing which he could do would be to make an 
eloquent, forcible, and affecting oration at the bar of the House ; 
but that, if he could not trust himself to speak, and found it 
necessary to read, he ought to be as concise as possible. Audi- 
ences accustomed to extemporaneous debating of the highest 20 
excellence are always impatient of long written compositions. 
Hastings, however, sat down as he would have done at the 
Government House in Bengal, and prepared a paper of im- 
mense length. That paper, if recorded on the consultations of 
an Indian administration, would have been justly praised as 25 
a very able minute. But it was now out of place. It fell 
flat, as the best written defense must have fallen flat, on an 
assembly accustomed to the animated and strenuous conflicts of 
Pitt and Fox. The members, as soon as their curiosity about 
the face and demeanor of so eminent a stranger was satisfied, 30 
walked away to dinner, and left Hastings to tell his story till 
midnight to the clerks and the Sergeant at arms. 

All preliminary steps having been duly taken, Burke, in the 
beginning of June, brought forward the charge relating to the 



I 9 4 WARREN HASTINGS 

Rohilla war. He acted discreetly in placing this accusation in 
the van ; for Dundas had formerly moved, and the House had 
adopted, a resolution condemning, in the most severe terms, 
the policy followed by Hastings with regard to Rohilcund. 
5 Dundas had little, or rather nothing, to say in defense of his 
own consistency ; but he put a bold face on the matter and op- 
posed the motion. Among other things, he declared that, though 
he still thought the Rohilla war unjustifiable, he considered the 
services which Hastings had subsequently rendered to the state 

io as sufficient to atone even for so great an offense. Pitt did not 
speak, but voted with Dundas ; and Hastings was absolved by 
a hundred and nineteen votes against sixty-seven. 

Hastings was now confident of victory. It seemed, indeed, 
that he had reason to be so. The Rohilla war was, of all his 

1 5 measures, that which his accusers might with greatest advantage 
assail. It had been condemned by the Court of Directors. It 
had been condemned by the House of Commons. It had been 
condemned by Mr. Dundas, who had since become the chief 
minister of the Crown for Indian affairs. Yet Burke, having 

20 chosen this strong ground, had been completely defeated on it. 
That, having failed here, he should succeed on any point, was 
generally thought impossible. It was rumored at the clubs and 
coffeehouses that one or perhaps two more charges would be 
brought forward ; that if, on those charges, the sense of the 

25 House of Commons should be against impeachment, the Oppo- 
sition would let the matter drop ; that Hastings would be imme- 
diately raised to the peerage, decorated with the star of the Bath, 
sworn of the Privy Council, and invited to lend the assistance of 
his talents and experience to the India board. Lord Thurlow, 

30 indeed, some months before, had spoken with contempt of the 
scruples which prevented Pitt from calling Hastings to the 
House of Lords ; and had even said that, if the Chancellor of 
the Exchequer was afraid of the Commons, there was nothing 
to prevent the Keeper of the Great Seal from taking the royal 



WARREN HASTINGS 195 

pleasure about a patent of peerage. The very title was chosen. 
Hastings was to be Lord Daylesford. For, through all changes 
of scene and changes of fortune, remained unchanged his attach- 
ment to the spot which had witnessed the greatness and the fall 
of his family, and which had borne so great a part in the first 5 
dreams of his young ambition. 

But in a very few days these fair prospects were overcast. 
On the thirteenth of June Mr. Fox brought forward, with great 
ability and eloquence, the charge respecting the treatment of 
Cheyte Sing. Francis followed on the same side. The friends 10 
of Hastings were in high spirits when Pitt rose. With his usual 
abundance and felicity of language, the Minister gave his opinion 
on the case. He maintained that the Governor-General was 
justified in calling on the Rajah of Benares for pecuniary assist- 
ance and in imposing a fine when that assistance was contu- 1 5 
maciously withheld. He also thought that the conduct of the 
Governor-General during the insurrection had been distinguished 
by ability and presence of mind. He censured, with great bitter- 
ness, the conduct of Francis, both in India and in Parliament, 
as most dishonest and malignant. The necessary inference from 20 
Pitt's arguments seemed to be that Hastings ought to be honor- 
ably acquitted ; and both the friends and the opponents of the 
Minister expected from him a declaration to that effect. To the 
astonishment of all parties, he concluded by saying that, though 
he thought it right in Hastings to fine Cheyte Sing for contu- 25 
macy, yet the amount of the fine was too great for the occasion. 
On this ground, and on this ground alone, did Mr. Pitt, applaud- 
ing every other part of the conduct of Hastings with regard to 
Benares, declare that he should vote in favor of Mr. Fox's 
motion. 30 

The House was thunderstruck ; and it well might be so. For 
the wrong done to Cheyte Sing, even had it been as flagitious 
as Fox and Francis contended, was a trifle when compared with 
the horrors which had been inflicted on Rohilcund. But if Mr. 



196 WARREN HASTINGS 

Pitt's view of the case of Cheyte Sing were correct,- there was 
no ground for an impeachment or even for a vote of censure. 
If the offense of Hastings was really no more than this, that, 
having a right to impose a mulct, the amount of which mulct 
5 was not defined, but was left to be settled by his discretion, he 
had, not for his own advantage, but for that of the state, 
demanded too much, was this an offense which required a crim- 
inal proceeding of the highest solemnity, a criminal proceeding, 
to which, during sixty years, no public functionary had been 

10 subjected ? We can see, we think, in what way a man of sense 
and integrity might have been induced to take any course re- 
specting Hastings, except the course which Mr. Pitt took. Such 
a man might have thought a great example necessary, for the 
preventing of injustice, and for the vindicating of the national 

1 5 honor, and might, on that ground, have voted for impeachment 
both on the Rohilla charge and on the Benares charge. Such a 
man might have thought that the offenses of Hastings had been 
atoned for by great services, and might, on that ground, have 
voted against the impeachment, on both charges. With great 

20 diffidence we give it as our opinion that the most correct course 
would, on the whole, have been to impeach on the Rohilla 
charge and to acquit on the Benares charge. Had the Benares 
charge appeared to us in the same light in which it appeared to 
Mr. Pitt, we should, without hesitation, have voted for acquittal 

25 on that charge. The one course which it is inconceivable that 
any man of a tenth part of Mr. Pitt's abilities can have honestly 
taken was the course which he took. He acquitted Hastings on 
the Rohilla charge. He softened down the Benares charge till 
it became no charge at all ; and then he pronounced that it 

30 contained matter for impeachment. 

Nor must it be forgotten that the principal reason assigned 
by the ministry for not impeaching Hastings on account of the 
Rohilla war was this, that the delinquencies of the early part of 
his administration had been atoned for by the excellence of the 



WARREN HASTINGS 197 

later part. Was it not most extraordinary that men who had 
held this language could afterwards vote that the later part of 
his administration furnished matter for no less than twenty 
articles of impeachment ? They first represented the conduct of 
Hastings in 1780 and 1781 as so highly meritorious that, like 5 
works of supererogation in the Catholic theology, it ought to be 
efficacious for the canceling of former offenses ; and they then 
prosecuted him for his conduct in 1780 and 1781. 

The general astonishment was the greater, because, only 
twenty-four hours before, the members on whom the Minister 10 
could depend had received the usual notes from the Treasury, 
begging them to be in their places and to vote against Mr. Fox's 
motion. It was asserted by Mr. Hastings that, early on the 
morning of the very day on which the debate took place, Dundas 
called on Pitt, woke him, and was closeted with him many 15 
hours. The result of this conference was a determination to 
give up the late Governor-General to the vengeance of the 
Opposition. It was impossible even for the most powerful minis- 
ter to carry all his followers with him in so strange a course. 
Several persons high in office, the Attorney-General, Mr. Glen- 20 
ville, and Lord Mulgrave, divided against Mr. Pitt. But the 
devoted adherents who stood by the head of the Government 
without asking questions were sufficiently numerous to turn the 
scale. A hundred and nineteen members voted for Mr. Fox's 
motion ; seventy-nine against it. Dundas silently followed Pitt. 25 

That good and great man, the late William Wilberforce, often 
related the events of this remarkable night. He described the 
amazement of the House, and the bitter reflections which were 
muttered against the Prime Minister by some of the habitual 
supporters of government. Pitt himself appeared to feel that 30 
his conduct required some explanation. He left the Treasury 
bench, sat for some time next to Mr. Wilberforce, and very 
earnestly declared that he had found it impossible, as a man of 
conscience, to stand any longer by Hastings. The business, he 



198 WARREN HASTINGS 

said, was too bad. Mr. Wilberforce, we are bound to add, fully 
believed that his friend was sincere, and that the suspicions to 
which this mysterious affair gave rise were altogether unfounded. 
Those suspicions, indeed, were such as it is painful to men- 
5 tion. The friends of Hastings, most of whom, it is to be 
observed, generally supported the administration, affirmed that 
the motive of Pitt and Dundas was jealousy. Hastings was per- 
sonally a favorite with the King. He was the idol of the East 
India Company and of its servants. If he were absolved by the 

10 Commons, seated among the Lords, admitted to the Board of 
Control, closely allied with the strong-minded and imperious 
Thurlow, was it not almost certain that he would soon draw to 
himself the entire management of Eastern affairs ? Was it not 
possible that he might become a formidable rival in the cabinet ? 

15 It had probably got abroad that very singular communications 
had taken place between Thurlow and Major Scott, and that, 
if the First Lord of the Treasury was afraid to recommend 
Hastings for a peerage, the Chancellor was ready to take the 
responsibility of that step on himself. Of all ministers, Pitt was 

20 the least likely to submit with patience to such an encroachment 
on his functions. If the Commons impeached Hastings, all 
danger was at an end. The proceeding, however it might 
terminate, would probably last some years. In the meantime 
the accused person would be excluded from honors and public 

25 employments, and could scarcely venture even to pay his duty 
at Court. Such were the motives attributed by a great part of the 
public to the young Minister, whose ruling passion was generally 
believed to be avarice of power. 

The prorogation soon interrupted the discussions respecting 

30 Hastings. In the following year those discussions were resumed. 
The charge touching the spoliation of the Begums was brought 
forward by Sheridan, in a speech which was so imperfectly re- 
ported that it may be said to be wholly lost, but which was, with- 
out doubt, the most elaborately brilliant of all the productions of 



WARREN HASTINGS 199 

his ingenious mind. The impression which it produced was such 
as has never been equaled. He sat down, not merely amidst 
cheering, but amidst the loud clapping of hands, in which the 
Lords below the bar and the strangers in the gallery joined. 
The excitement of the House was such that no other speaker 5 
could obtain a hearing; and the debate was adjourned. The 
ferment spread fast through the town. Within four and twenty 
hours Sheridan was offered a thousand pounds for the copy- 
right of the speech, if he would himself correct it for the press. 
The impression made by this remarkable display of eloquence 10 
on severe and experienced critics, whose discernment may be 
supposed to have been quickened by emulation, was deep and 
permanent. Mr. Windham, twenty years later, said that the 
speech deserved all its fame, and was, in spite of some faults of 
taste, such as were seldom wanting either in the literary or in 15 
the parliamentary performances of Sheridan, the finest that had 
been delivered within the memory of man. Mr. Fox, about the 
same time, being asked by the late Lord Holland what was 
the best speech ever made in the House of Commons, assigned 
the first place, without hesitation, to the great oration of Sheridan 20 
on the Oude charge. 

When the debate was resumed, the tide ran so strongly 
against the accused that his friends were coughed and scraped 
down. Pitt declared himself for Sheridan's motion ; and the 
question was carried by a hundred and seventy-five votes 25 
against sixty-eight. 

The Opposition, flushed with victory and strongly supported 
by the public sympathy, proceeded to bring forward a succes- 
sion of charges relating chiefly to pecuniary transactions. The 
friends of Hastings were discouraged, and, having now no hope 30 
of being able to avert an impeachment, were not very strenuous 
in their exertions. At length the House, having agreed to twenty 
articles of charge, directed Burke to go before the Lords and 
to impeach the late Governor-General of High Crimes and 



200 WARREN HASTINGS 

Misdemeanors. Hastings was at the same time arrested by the 
Sergeant at arms, and carried to the bar of the Peers. 

The session was now within ten days of its close. It was, 

therefore, impossible that any progress could be made in the 

5 trial till the next year. Hastings was admitted to bail ; and 

further proceedings were postponed till the Houses should 

reassemble. . 

When Parliament met in the following winter, the Commons 
proceeded to elect a committee for managing the impeachment. 

10 Burke stood at the head, and with him were associated most 
of the leading members of the Opposition. But when the name 
of Francis was read a fierce contention arose. It was said that 
Francis and Hastings were notoriously on bad terms, that they 
had been at feud during many years, that on one occasion their 

15 mutual aversion had impelled them to seek each other's lives, 
and that it would be improper and indelicate to select a private 
enemy to be a public accuser. It was urged on the other side 
with great force, particularly by Mr. Windham, that impartiality, 
though the first duty of a judge, had never been reckoned 

20 among the qualities of an advocate ; that in the ordinary ad- 
ministration of criminal justice among the English the aggrieved 
party, the very last person who ought to be admitted into the 
jury box, is the prosecutor ; that what was wanted in a manager 
was, not that he should be free from bias, but that he should 

25 be able, well informed, energetic, and active. The ability and 
information of Francis were admitted ; and the very animosity 
with which he was reproached, whether a virtue or a vice, was 
at least a pledge for his energy and activity. It seems difficult 
to refute these arguments. But the inveterate hatred borne by 

30 Francis to Hastings had excited general disgust. The House 
decided that Francis should not be a manager. Pitt voted with 
the majority, Dundas with the minority. 

In the meantime the preparations for the trial had proceeded 
rapidly; and on the thirteenth of February, 1788, the sittings 



WARREN HASTINGS 201 

of the Court commenced. There have been spectacles more 
dazzling to the eye*, more gorgeous with jewelry and cloth of 
gold, more attractive to grown-up children, than that which 
was then exhibited at Westminster ; but, perhaps, there never 
was a spectacle so well calculated to strike a highly cultivated, 5 
a reflecting, an imaginative mind. All the various kinds of inter- 
est which belong to the near and to the distant, to the present 
and to the past, were collected on one spot, and in one hour. 
All the talents and all the accomplishments which are developed 
by liberty and civilization were now displayed, with every ad- 10 
vantage that could be derived both from cooperation and from 
contrast. Every step in the proceedings carried the mind either 
backward, through many troubled centuries, to the days when 
the foundations of our constitution were laid ; or far away, over 
boundless seas and deserts, to dusky nations living under strange 1 5 
stars, worshiping strange gods, and writing strange characters 
from right to left. The High Court of Parliament was to sit, 
according to forms handed down from the days of the Plan- 
tagenets, on an Englishman accused of exercising tyranny 
over the lord of the holy city of Benares and over the ladies 20 
of the princely house of Oude. 

The place was worthy of such a trial. It was the great hall 
of William Rufus, the hall which had resounded with acclama- 
tions at the inauguration of thirty kings, the hall which had 
witnessed the just sentence of Bacon and the just absolution of 25 
Somers, the hall where the eloquence of Strafford had for a 
moment awed and melted a victorious party inflamed with just 
resentment, the hall where Charles had confronted the High 
Court of Justice with the placid courage which has half re- 
deemed his fame. Neither military nor civil pomp was wanting. 30 
The avenues were lined with grenadiers. The streets were kept 
clear by cavalry. The Peers, robed in. gold and ermine, were 
marshaled by the heralds under Garter King-at-arms. The 
judges in their vestments of state attended to give advice on 



202 WARREN HASTINGS 

points of law. Near a hundred and seventy lords, three fourths 
of the Upper House as the Upper House then was, walked in 
solemn order from their usual place of assembling to the tribu- 
nal. The junior baron present led the way, George Eliott, Lord 
5 Heathneld, recently ennobled for his memorable defense of 
Gibraltar against the fleets and armies of France and Spain. 
The long procession was closed by the Duke of Norfolk, Earl 
Marshal of the realm, by the great dignitaries, and by the 
brothers and sons of the King. Last of all came the Prince of 

10 Wales, conspicuous by his fine person and noble bearing. The 
gray old walls were hung with scarlet. The long galleries were 
crowded by an audience such as has rarely excited the fears or 
the emulation of an orator. There were gathered together, from 
all parts of a great, free, enlightened, and prosperous empire, 

15 grace and female loveliness, wit and learning, the representa- 
tives of every science and of every art. There were seated 
round the Queen the fair-haired young daughters of the house 
of Brunswick. There the Ambassadors of great Kings and 
Commonwealths gazed with admiration on a spectacle which no 

20 other country in the world could present. There Siddons, in 
the prime of her majestic beauty, looked with emotion on a 
scene surpassing all the imitations of the stage. There the 
historian of the Roman Empire thought of the days when Cicero 
pleaded the cause of Sicily against Verres, and when, before a 

25 senate which still retained some show of freedom, Tacitus 
thundered against the oppressor of Africa. There were seen, 
side by side, the greatest painter and the greatest scholar of 
the age. The spectacle had allured Reynolds from that easel 
which has preserved to us the thoughtful foreheads of so many 

30 writers and statesmen, and the sweet smiles of so many noble 
matrons. It had induced Parr to suspend his labors in that 
dark and profound mine from which he had extracted a vast 
treasure of erudition, a treasure too often buried in the earth, 
too often paraded with injudicious and inelegant ostentation, 



WARREN HASTINGS 203 

but still precious, massive, and splendid. There appeared the 
voluptuous charms of her to whom the heir of the throne had 
in secret plighted his faith. There too was she, the beautiful 
mother of a beautiful race, the Saint Cecilia whose delicate fea- 
tures, lighted up by love and music, art has rescued from the 5 
common decay. There were the members of that brilliant so- 
ciety which quoted, criticized, and exchanged repartees, under 
the rich peacock hangings of Mrs. Montague. And there the 
ladies whose lips, more persuasive than those of Fox himself, 
had carried the Westminster election against palace and Treasury, 10 
shone round Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire. 

The Sergeants made proclamation. Hastings advanced to 
the bar and bent his knee. The culprit was indeed not un- 
worthy of that great presence. He had ruled an extensive and 
populous country, and made laws and treaties, had sent forth 15 
armies, had set up and pulled down princes. And in his high 
place he had so borne himself, that all had feared him, that 
most had loved him, and that hatred itself could deny him no 
title to glory, except virtue. He looked like a great man and 
not like a bad man. A person small and emaciated, yet deriv- 20 
ing dignity from a carriage which, while it indicated deference 
to the Court, indicated also habitual self-possession and self- 
respect, a high and intellectual forehead, a brow pensive, but not 
gloomy, a mouth of inflexible decision, a face pale and worn, but 
serene, on which was written, as legibly as under the picture in 25 
the council chamber at Calcutta, Mens aequo, in arduis ; such 
was the aspect with which the great proconsul presented himself 
to his judges. 

His counsel accompanied him, men all of whom were after- 
wards raised by their talents and learning to the highest posts 30 
in their profession, the bold and strong-minded Law, after- 
wards Chief Justice of the King's Bench ; the more humane 
and eloquent Dallas, afterwards Chief Justice of the Common 
Pleas ; and Plomer, who, near twenty years later, successfully 



204 WARREN HASTINGS 

conducted in the same high court the defense of Lord Melville, 
and subsequently became Vice Chancellor and Master of the 
Rolls. 

But neither the culprit nor his advocates attracted so much 
5 notice as the accusers. In the midst of the blaze of red drapery 
a space had been fitted up with green benches and tables for 
the Commons. The managers, with Burke at their head, ap- 
peared in full dress. The collectors of gossip did not fail to re- 
mark that even Fox, generally so regardless of his appearance, 

10 had paid to the illustrious tribunal the compliment of wearing a 
bag and sword. Pitt had refused to be one of the conductors of 
the impeachment ; and his commanding, copious, and sonorous 
eloquence was wanting to that great muster of various talents. 
Age and blindness had unfitted Lord North for the duties of a 

1 5 public prosecutor ; and his friends were left without the help of 

his excellent sense, his tact, and his urbanity. But, in spite of 

, the absence of these two distinguished members of the Lower 

House, the box in which the managers stood contained an array 

of speakers such as perhaps had not appeared together since 

20 the great age of Athenian eloquence. There were Fox and 
Sheridan, the English Demosthenes and the English Hyperides. 
There was Burke, ignorant, indeed, or negligent of the art of 
adapting his reasonings and his style to the capacity and taste 
of his hearers, but in amplitude of comprehension and richness 

25 of imagination superior to every orator, ancient or modern. 
There, with eyes reverentially fixed on Burke, appeared the 
finest gentleman of the age, his form developed by every manly 
exercise, his face beaming with intelligence and spirit, the in- 
genious, the chivalrous, the high-souled Windham. Nor, though 

30 surrounded by such men, did the youngest manager pass un- 
noticed. At an age when most of those who distinguish them- 
selves in life are still contending for prizes and fellowships at 
college, he had won for himself a conspicuous place in Parlia- 
ment. No advantage of fortune or connection was wanting that 



WARREN HASTINGS 205 

could set off to the height his splendid talents and his unblem- 
ished honor. At twenty-three he had been thought worthy to 
be ranked with the veteran statesmen who appeared as the 
delegates of the British Commons, at the bar of the British 
nobility. All who stood at that bar, save him alone, are gone — 5 
culprit, advocates, accusers. To the generation which is now in 
the vigor of life he is the sole representative of a great age 
which has passed away. But those who, within the last ten 
years, have listened with delight, till the morning sun shone on 
the tapestries of the House of Lords, to the lofty and animated 10 
eloquence of Charles Earl Grey, are able to form some estimate 
of the powers of a race of men among whom he was not the 
foremost. 

The charges and the answers of Hastings were first read. 
The ceremony occupied two whole days and was rendered less 15 
tedious than it would otherwise have been by the silver voice 
and just emphasis of Cowper, the clerk of the court, a near 
relation of the amiable poet. On the third day Burke rose. 
Four sittings were occupied by his opening speech, which was 
intended to be a general introduction' to all the charges. With 20 
an exuberance of thought and a splendor of diction which more 
than satisfied the highly raised expectation of the audience, he 
described the character and institutions of the natives of India, 
recounted the circumstances in which the Asiatic empire of 
Britain had originated, and set forth the constitution of the 25 
Company and of the English Presidencies. Having thus at- 
tempted to communicate to his hearers an idea of Eastern 
society, as vivid as that which existed in his own mind, he pro- 
ceeded to arraign the administration of Hastings as systemati- 
cally conducted in defiance of morality and public law. The 30 
energy and pathos of the great orator extorted expressions of 
unwonted admiration from the stern and hostile Chancellor, and, 
for a moment, seemed to pierce even the resolute heart of the 
defendant. The ladies in the galleries, unaccustomed to such 



206 WARREN HASTINGS 

displays of eloquence, excited by the solemnity of the occasion, 
and perhaps not unwilling to display their taste and sensibility, 
were in a state of uncontrollable emotion. Handkerchiefs were 
pulled out ; smelling bottles were handed round ; hysterical sobs 
5 and screams were heard ; and Mrs. Sheridan was carried out in 
a fit. At length the orator concluded. Raising his voice till 
the old arches of Irish oak resounded, " Therefore," said he, 
" hath it with all confidence been ordered by the Commons of 
Great Britain that I impeach Warren Hastings of high crimes 

10 and misdemeanors. I impeach him in the name of the Com- 
mons' House of Parliament, whose trust he has betrayed. I 
impeach him in the name of the English nation, whose ancient 
honor he has sullied. I impeach him in the name of the people 
of India, whose rights he has trodden under foot, and whose 

15 country he has turned into a desert. Lastly, in the name of 
human nature itself, in the name of both sexes, in the name of 
every age, in the name of every rank, I impeach the common 
enemy and oppressor of all ! " 

When the deep murmur of various emotions had subsided, 

20 Mr. Fox rose to address the Lords respecting the course of 
proceeding to be followed. The wish of the accusers was that 
the Court would bring to a close the investigation of the first 
charge before the second was opened. The wish of Hastings 
and of his counsel was that the managers should open all the 

2 5 charges, and produce all the evidence for the prosecution, before 
the defense began. The Lords retired to their own House to 
consider the question. The Chancellor took the side of Hastings. 
Lord Loughborough, who was now in opposition, supported the 
demand of the managers. The division showed which way the 

30 inclination of the tribunal leaned. A majority of near three to 

one decided in favor of the course for which Hastings contended. 

When the Court sat again Mr. Fox, assisted by Mr. Grey, 

opened the charge respecting Cheyte Sing, and several days 

were spent in reading papers and hearing witnesses. The next 



WARREN HASTINGS 20/ 

article was that relating to the Princesses of Oude. The conduct 
of this part of the case was intrusted to Sheridan. The curi- 
osity of the public to hear him was unbounded. His sparkling 
and highly finished declamation lasted two days ; but the Hall 
was crowded to suffocation during the whole time. It was said 5 
that fifty guineas had been paid for a single ticket. Sheridan, 
when he concluded, contrived, with a knowledge of stage effect 
which his father might have envied, to sink back, as if exhausted, 
into the arms of Burke, who hugged him with the energy of 
generous admiration. 10 

June was now far advanced. The session could not last much 
longer, and the progress which had been made in the impeach- 
ment was not very satisfactory. There were twenty charges. 
On two only of these had even the case for the prosecution 
been heard ; and it was now a year since Hastings had been 1 5 
admitted to bail. 

The interest taken by the public in the trial was great when 
the Court began to sit, and rose to the height when Sheridan 
spoke on the charge relating to the Begums. From that time 
the excitement went down fast. The spectacle had lost the 20 
attraction of novelty. The great displays of rhetoric were over. 
What was behind was not of a nature to entice men of letters 
from their books in the morning or to tempt ladies who had left 
the masquerade at two to be out of bed before eight. There 
remained examinations and cross-examinations. There remained 25 
statements of accounts. There remained the reading of papers, 
filled with words unintelligible to English ears, with lacs and 
crores, zemindars and aumils, sunnuds and perwannahs, jaghires 
and nuzzurs. There remained bickerings, not always carried on 
with the best taste or with the best temper, between the man- 30 
agers of the impeachment and the counsel for the defense, 
particularly between Mr. Burke and Mr. Law. There remained 
the endless marches and countermarches of the Peers between 
their House and the Hall : for as often as a point of law was 



208 WARREN HASTINGS 

to be discussed, their Lordships retired to discuss it apart ; and 
the consequence was, as a peer wittily said, that the judges 
walked and the trial stood still. 

It is to be added that, in the spring of 1788 when the trial 
5 commenced, no important question, either of domestic or 
foreign policy, excited the public mind. The proceeding in 
Westminster Hall, therefore, naturally attracted most of the 
attention of Parliament and of the public. It was the one great 
event of that season. But in the following year the King's ill- 

10 ness, the debates on the Regency, the expectation of a change 
of ministry, completely diverted public attention from Indian 
affairs ; and within a fortnight after George the Third had re- 
turned thanks in St. Paul's for his recovery, the States-General 
of France met at Versailles. In the midst of the agitation pro- 

1 5 duced by these events the impeachment was for a time almost 
forgotten. 

The trial in the Hall went on languidly. In the session of 
1788, when the proceedings had the interest of novelty, and 
when the Peers had little other business before them, only 

20 thirty-five days were given to the impeachment. In 1789 the 
Regency Bill occupied the Upper House till the session was far 
advanced. When the. King recovered, the circuits were begin- 
ning. The judges left town ; the Lords waited for the return of 
the oracles of jurisprudence ; and the consequence was that 

25 during the whole year only seventeen days were given to the case 
of Hastings. It was clear that the matter would be protracted 
to a length unprecedented in the annals of criminal law. 

In truth, it is impossible to deny that impeachment, though it 
is a fine ceremony, and though it may have been useful in the 

30 seventeenth century, is not a proceeding from which much good 
can now be expected. Whatever confidence may be placed in 
the decisions of the Peers on an appeal arising out of ordinary 
litigation, it is certain that no man has the least confidence in 
their impartiality, when a great public functionary, charged with 



WARREN HASTINGS 209 

a- great state crime, is brought to their bar. They are all politi- 
cians. There is hardly one among them whose vote on an 
impeachment may not be confidently predicted before a witness 
has been examined ; and, even if it were possible to rely on their 
justice, they would still be quite unfit to try such a cause as that 5 
of Hastings. They sit only during half the year. They have to 
transact much legislative and much judicial business. The law 
Lords, whose advice is required to guide the unlearned majority, 
are employed daily in administering justice elsewhere. It is 
impossible, therefore, that during a busy session the Upper 10 
House should give more than a few days to an impeachment. 
To expect that their Lordships would give up partridge shooting, 
in order to bring the .greatest delinquent to speedy justice, or to 
relieve accused innocence by speedy acquittal, would be unrea- 
sonable indeed. A well-constituted tribunal, sitting regularly six 1 5 
days in the week, and nine hours in the day, would have brought 
the trial of Hastings to a close in less than three months. The 
Lords had not finished their work in seven years. 

The result ceased to be matter of doubt, from the time when 
the Lords resolved that they would be guided by the rules of 20 
evidence which are received in the inferior courts of the realm. 
Those rules, it is well known, exclude much information which 
would be quite sufficient to determine the conduct of any reason- 
able man, in the most important transactions of private life. 
Those rules, at every assizes, save scores of culprits whom 25 
judges, jury, and spectators firmly believe to be guilty. But 
when those rules were rigidly applied to offenses committed 
many years before, at the distance of many thousand miles, 
conviction was, of course, out of the question. We do not 
blame the accused and his counsel for availing themselves of 30 
every legal advantage in order to obtain an acquittal. But it is 
clear that an acquittal so obtained cannot be pleaded in bar of 
the judgment of history. 

Several attempts were made by the friends of Hastings to 



2IO WARREN HASTINGS 

put a stop to the trial. In 1789 they proposed a vote of censure 
upon Burke for some violent language which he had used 
respecting the death of Nuncomar and the connection between 
Hastings and Impey. Burke was then unpopular in the last 
5 degree both with the House and with the country. The asper- 
ity and indecency of some expressions which he had used during 
the debates on the Regency had annoyed even his warmest 
friends. The vote of censure was carried ; and those who had 
moved it hoped that the managers would resign in disgust. 

10 Burke was deeply hurt. But his zeal for what he considered as 
the cause of justice and mercy triumphed over his personal 
feelings. He received the censure of the House with dignity 
and meekness and declared that no personal mortification or 
humiliation should induce him to flinch from the sacred duty 

15 which he had undertaken. 

In the following year the Parliament was dissolved, and the 
friends of Hastings entertained a hope that the new House of 
Commons might not be disposed to go on with the impeachment. 
They began by maintaining that the whole proceeding was 

20 terminated by the dissolution. Defeated on this point, they made 
a direct motion that the impeachment should be dropped ; but 
they were defeated by the combined forces of the Government 
and the Opposition. It was, however, resolved that, for the sake 
of expedition, many of the articles should be withdrawn. In 

25 truth, had not some such measure been adopted, the trial would 
have lasted till the defendant was in his grave. 

At length, in the spring of 1795, the decision was pro- 
nounced, near eight years after Hastings had been brought by 
the Sergeant at arms of the Commons to the bar of the Lords. 

30 On the last day of this great procedure the public curiosity, 
long suspended, seemed to be revived. Anxiety about the judg- 
ment there could be none ; for it had been fully ascertained that 
there was a great majority for the defendant. Nevertheless 
many wished to see the pageant, and the Hall was as much 



WARREN HASTINGS 211 

crowded as on the first day. But those who, having been pres- 
ent on the first day, now bore a part in the proceedings of the 
last, were few ; and most of those few were altered men. 

As Hastings himself said, the arraignment had taken place 
before one generation, and the judgment was pronounced 5 
by another. The spectator could not look at the woolsack, or 
at the red benches of the Peers, or at the green benches of the 
Commons, without seeing something that reminded him of the 
instability of all human things, of the instability of power and 
fame and life, of the more lamentable instability of friendship. 10 
The great seal was borne before Lord Loughborough, who 
when the trial commenced was a fierce opponent of Mr. Pitt's 
government, and who was now a member of that government, 
while Thurlow, who presided in the Court when it first sat, 
estranged from all his old allies, sat scowling among the junior 15 
barons. Of about a hundred and sixty nobles who walked in 
the procession on the first day sixty had been laid in their family 
vaults. Still more affecting must have been the sight of the 
managers' box. What had become of that fair fellowship, so 
closely bound together by public and private ties, so resplend- 20 
ent with every talent and accomplishment ? It had been scat- 
tered by calamities more bitter than the bitterness of death. 
The great chiefs were still living, and still in the full vigor of 
their genius. But their friendship was at an end. It had 
been violently and publicly dissolved with tears and stormy 25 
reproaches. If those men, once so dear to each other, were 
now compelled to meet for the purpose of managing the im- 
peachment, they met as strangers whom public business had 
brought together, and behaved to each other with cold and 
distant civility. Burke had in his vortex whirled away Windham. 30 
Fox had been followed by Sheridan and Grey. 

Only twenty-nine Peers voted. Of these only six found 
Hastings guilty on the charges relating to Cheyte Sing and to 
the Begums. On other charges the majority in his favor was 



212 WARREN HASTINGS 

still greater. On some he was unanimously absolved. He was 
then called to the bar, was informed from the woolsack that 
the Lords had acquitted him, and was solemnly discharged. 
He bowed respectfully and retired. 
5 We have said that the decision had been fully expected. It 
was also generally approved. At the commencement of the 
trial there had been a strong and indeed unreasonable feeling 
against Hastings. At the close of the trial there was a feeling 
equally strong and equally unreasonable in his favor. One 

10 cause of the change was, no doubt, what is commonly called 
the fickleness of the multitude, but what seems to us to be 
merely the general law of human nature. Both in individuals 
and in masses violent excitement is always followed by remission, 
and often by reaction. We are all inclined to depreciate what- 

15 ever we have overpraised, and, on the other hand, to show 
undue indulgence where we have shown undue rigor. It was 
thus in the case of Hastings. The length of his trial, moreover, 
made him an object of compassion. It was thought, and not 
without reason, that, even if he was guilty, he was still an ill— 

20 used man, and that an impeachment of eight years was more 
than a sufficient punishment. It was also felt that, though, in 
the ordinary course of criminal law, a defendant is not allowed 
to set off his good actions against his crimes, a great political 
cause should be tried on different principles, and that a man 

25 who had governed an empire during thirteen years might have 
done some very reprehensible things, and yet might be on the 
whole deserving of rewards and honors rather than of fine and 
imprisonment. The press, an instrument neglected by the pros- 
ecutors, was used by Hastings and his friends with great effect. 

30 Every ship, too, that arrived from Madras or Bengal, brought 
a cuddy full of his admirers. Every gentleman from India spoke 
of the late Governor-General as having deserved better, and 
having been treated worse, than any man living. The effect of 
this testimony unanimously given by all persons who knew the 



WARREN HASTINGS 21 3 

East, was naturally very great. Retired members of the Indian 
services, civil and military, were settled in all corners of the 
kingdom. Each of them was, of course, in his own little circle, 
regarded as an oracle on an Indian question ; and they were, 
with scarcely one exception, the zealous advocates of Hastings. 5 
It is to be added, that the numerous addresses to the late Gov- 
ernor-General, which his friends in Bengal obtained from the 
natives and transmitted to England, made a considerable impres- 
sion. To these addresses we attach little or no importance. That 
Hastings was beloved by the people whom he governed is true ; 10 
but the eulogies of pundits, zemindars, Mohammedan doctors, 
do not prove it to be true. For an English collector or judge 
would have found it easy to induce any native who could write 
to sign a panegyric on the most odious ruler that ever was in 
India. It was said that at Benares — the very place at which 1 5 
the acts set forth in the first article of impeachment had been 
committed, — the natives had erected a temple to Hastings ; and 
this story excited a strong sensation in England. Burke's ob- 
servations on the apotheosis were admirable. He saw no reason 
for astonishment, he said, in the incident which had been repre- 20 
sented as so striking. He knew something of the mythology of 
the Brahmins. He knew that as they worshiped some gods 
from love, so they worshiped others from fear. He knew that 
they erected shrines, not only to the benignant deities of light 
and plenty, but also to the fiends who preside over smallpox 25 
and murder. Nor did he at all dispute the claim of Mr. Hastings 
to be admitted into such a Pantheon. This reply has always 
struck us as one of the finest that ever was made in Parlia- 
ment. It is a grave and forcible argument, decorated by the 
most brilliant wit and fancy. 30 

Hastings was, however, safe. But in everything except char- 
acter he would have been far better off if, when first impeached, 
he had at once pleaded guilty, and paid a fine of fifty thousand 
pounds. He was a ruined man. The legal expenses of his 



214 WARREN HASTINGS 

defense had been enormous. The expenses which did not appear 
in his attorney's bill were perhaps larger still. Great sums had 
been paid to Major Scott. Great sums had been laid out in 
bribing newspapers, rewarding pamphleteers, and circulating 
5 tracts. Burke, so early as 1790, declared in the House of Com- 
mons that twenty thousand pounds had been employed in cor- 
rupting the press. It is certain that no controversial weapon, 
from the gravest reasoning to the coarsest ribaldry, was left 
unemployed. Logan defended the accused Governor with great 

10 ability in prose. For the lovers of verse the speeches of the 
managers were burlesqued in Simpkin's letters. It is, we are 
afraid, indisputable that Hastings stooped so low as to court 
the aid of that malignant and filthy baboon, John Williams, who 
called himself Anthony Pasquin. It was necessary to subsidize 

15 such allies largely. The private hoards of Mrs. Hastings had 
disappeared. It is said that the banker to whom they had been 
intrusted had failed. Still, if Hastings had practiced strict 
economy, he would, after all his losses, have had a moderate 
competence ; but in the management of his private affairs he 

20 was imprudent. The dearest wish of his heart had always been 
to regain Daylesford. At length, in the very year in which his 
trial commenced, the wish was accomplished ; and the domain, 
alienated more than seventy years before, returned to the de- 
scendant of its old lords. But the manor house was a ruin ; and 

25 the grounds round it had, during many years, been utterly 
neglected. Hastings proceeded to build, to plant, to form a 
sheet of water, to excavate a grotto ; and before he was dis- 
missed from the bar of the House of Lords he had expended 
more than forty thousand pounds in adorning his seat. 

30 The general feeling both of the Directors and of the pro- 
prietors of the East India Company was that he had great 
claims on them, that his services to them had been eminent, 
and that his misfortunes had been the effect of his zeal for 
their interest. His friends in Leadenhall Street proposed to 



WARREN HASTINGS 215 

reimburse him for the costs of his trial, and to settle on him an 
annuity of five thousand pounds a year. But the consent of the 
Board of Control was necessary ; and at the head of the Board 
of Control was Mr. Dundas, who had himself been a party to 
the impeachment, who had, on that account, been reviled with 5 
great bitterness by the adherents of Hastings, and who, there- 
fore, was not in a very complying mood. He refused to consent 
to what the Directors suggested. The Directors remonstrated. 
A long controversy followed. Hastings, in the meantime, was 
reduced to such distress that he could hardly pay his weekly 10 
bills. At length a compromise was made. An annuity of four 
thousand a year was settled on Hastings ; and in order to enable 
him to meet pressing demands, he was to receive ten years' an- 
nuity in advance. The company was also permitted to lend him 
fifty thousand pounds, to be repaid by instalments without inter- i 5 
est. This relief, though given in the most absurd manner, was 
sufficient to enable the retired Governor to live in comfort and 
even in luxury, if he had been a skillful manager. But he was 
careless and profuse, and was more than once under the neces- 
sity of applying to the Company for assistance, which was 20 
liberally given. 

He had security and affluence, but not the power and dignity 
which, when he landed from India, he had reason to expect. 
He had then looked forward to a coronet, a red riband, a seat 
at the Council Board, an office at Whitehall. He was then only 25 
fifty-two, and might hope for many years of bodily and mental 
vigor. The case was widely different when he left the bar of 
the Lords. He was now too old a man to turn his mind to a 
new class of studies and duties. He had no chance of receiving 
any mark of royal favor while Mr. Pitt remained in power; and 30 
when Mr. Pitt retired Hastings was approaching his seven- 
tieth year. 

Once, and only once, after his acquittal, he interfered in 
politics ; and that interference was not much to his honor. In 



2l6 WARREN HASTINGS 

1804 he exerted himself strenuously to prevent Mr. Addington, 
against whom Fox and Pitt had combined, from resigning the 
Treasury. It is difficult to believe that a man so able and ener- 
getic as Hastings can have thought that, when Bonaparte was at 
5 Boulogne with a great army, the defense of our island could 
safely be intrusted to a ministry which did not contain a single 
person whom flattery could describe as a great statesman. It is 
also certain that, on the important question which had raised 
Mr. Addington to power, and on which he differed from both 

10 Fox and Pitt, Hastings, as might have been expected, agreed 
with Fox and Pitt, and was decidedly opposed to Addington. 
Religious intolerance has never been the vice of the Indian 
service, and certainly was not the vice of Hastings. But Mr. 
Addington had treated him with marked favor. Fox had been 

1 5 a principal manager of the impeachment. To Pitt it was owing 
that there had been an impeachment ; and Hastings, we fear, 
was on this occasion guided by personal considerations, rather 
than by a regard to the public interest. 

The last twenty-four years of his life were chiefly passed at 

20 Daylesford. He amused himself with embellishing his grounds, 
riding fine Arab horses, fattening prize cattle, and trying to rear 
Indian animals and vegetables in England. He sent for seeds 
of a very fine custard apple, from the garden of what had once 
been his own villa, among the green hedgerows of Allipore. He 

25 tried also to naturalize in. Worcestershire the delicious leechee, 
almost the only fruit of Bengal which deserves to be regretted 
even amidst the plenty of Covent Garden. The Mogul em- 
perors, in the time of their greatness, had in vain attempted to 
introduce into Hindostan the goat of the table-land of Tibet, 

30 whose down supplies the looms of Cashmere with the materials 
of the finest shawls. Hastings tried, with no better fortune, to 
rear a breed at Daylesford ; nor does he seem to have succeeded 
better with the cattle of Bootan, whose tails are in high esteem 
as the best fans for brushing away the mosquitoes. 



WARREN HASTINGS 217 

Literature divided his attention with his conservatories and 
his menagerie. He had always loved books, and they were now 
necessary to him. Though not a poet, in any high sense of the 
word, he wrote neat and polished lines with great facility and 
was fond of exercising this talent. Indeed, if we must speak out, 5 
he seems to have been more of a Trissotin than was to be ex- 
pected from the powers of his mind, and from the great part 
which he had played in life. We are assured in these Memoirs 
that the first thing which he did in the morning was to compose 
a copy of verses. When the family and guests assembled, the 10 
poem made its appearance as regularly as the eggs and rolls ; 
and Mr. Gleig requires us to believe that, if from any accident 
Hastings came to the breakfast table without one of his charm- 
ing performances in his hand, the omission was felt by all as a 
grievous disappointment. Tastes differ widely. For ourselves 15 
we must say that, however good the breakfasts at Daylesford 
may have been, — and we are assured that the tea was of the 
most aromatic flavor, and that neither tongue nor venison pasty 
was wanting, — we should have thought the reckoning high if 
we had been forced to earn our repast by listening every day 20 
to a new madrigal or sonnet composed by our host. We are 
glad, however, that Mr. Gleig has preserved this little feature of 
character, though we think it by no means a beauty. It is good 
to be often reminded of the inconsistency of human nature, and 
to learn to look without wonder or disgust on the weaknesses 25 
which are found in the strongest minds. Dionysius in old times, 
Frederic in the last century, with capacity and vigor equal to 
the conduct of the greatest affairs, united all the little vanities 
and affectations of provincial bluestockings. These great ex- 
amples may console the admirers of Hastings for the affliction 30 
of seeing him reduced to the level of the Hayleys and Sewards. 

When Hastings had passed many years in retirement, and had 
long outlived the common age of men, he again became for a 
short time an object of general attention. In 18 13 the charter 



218 WARREN HASTINGS 

of the East India Company was renewed ; and much discus- 
sion about Indian affairs took place in Parliament. It was de- 
termined to examine witnesses at the bar of the Commons ; and 
Hastings was ordered to attend. He had appeared at that bar 
5 once before. It was when he read his answer to the charges 
which Burke had laid on the table. Since that time twenty- 
seven years had elapsed ; public feeling had undergone a com- 
plete change ; the nation had now forgotten his faults and re- 
membered only his services. The reappearance, too, of a man 

10 who had been among the most distinguished of a generation 
that had passed away, who now belonged to history, and who 
seemed to have risen from the dead, could not but produce a 
solemn and pathetic effect. The Commons received him with 
acclamations, ordered a chair to be set for him, and when he 

15 retired, rose and uncovered. There were, indeed, a few who 
did not sympathize with the general feeling. One or two of the 
managers of the impeachment were present. They sat in the 
same seats which they had occupied when they had been 
thanked for the services which they had rendered in West- 

20 minster Hall ; for, by the courtesy of the House, a member 
who has been thanked in his place is considered as having a 
right always to occupy that place. These gentlemen were not 
disposed to admit that they had employed several of the best 
years of their lives in persecuting an innocent man. They ac- 

25 cordingly kept their seats and pulled their hats over their 
brows ; but the exceptions only made the prevailing enthusiasm 
more remarkable. The Lords received the old man with similar 
tokens of respect. The University of Oxford conferred on him 
the degree of Doctor of Laws ; and, in the Sheldonian Theater, 

30 the undergraduates welcomed him with tumultuous cheering. 

These marks of public esteem were soon followed by marks 

of royal favor. Hastings was sworn of the Privy Council and 

was admitted to a long private audience of the Prince Regent, 

who treated him very graciously. When the Emperor of Russia 



WARREN HASTINGS 219 

and the King of Prussia visited England, Hastings appeared in 
their train both at Oxford and in the Guildhall of London, and, 
though surrounded by a crowd of princes and great warriors, 
was everywhere received by the public with marks of respect 
and admiration. He was presented by the Prince Regent both 5 
to Alexander and to Frederic William ; and his Royal Highness 
went so far as to declare in public that honors far higher than 
a seat in the Privy Council were due, and would soon be paid, to 
the man who had saved the British dominions in Asia. Hastings 
now confidently expected a peerage ; but, from some unex- 10 
plained cause, he was again disappointed. 

He lived about four years longer, in the enjoyment of good 
spirits, of faculties not impaired to any painful or degrading ex- 
tent, and of health such as is rarely enjoyed by those who attain 
such an age. At length, on the twenty-second of August, 18 18, 15 
in the eighty-sixth year of his age, he met death with the same 
tranquil and decorous fortitude which he had opposed to all the 
trials of his various and eventful life. 

With all his faults, — and they were neither few nor small, — 
only one cemetery was worthy to contain his remains. In that 20 
temple of silence and reconciliation where the enmities of twenty 
generations lie buried, in the Great Abbey which has during 
many ages afforded a quiet resting place to those whose minds 
and bodies have been shattered by the contentions of the Great 
Hall, the dust of the illustrious accused should have mingled 25 
with the dust of the illustrious accusers. This was not to be. 
Yet the place of interment was not ill chosen. Behind the 
chancel of the parish church of Daylesford, in earth which 
already held the bones of many chiefs of the house of Hast- 
ings, was laid the coffin of the greatest man who has ever 30 
borne that ancient and widely extended name. On that very 
spot probably, fourscore years before, the little Warren, meanly 
clad and scantily fed, had played with the children of plow- 
men. Even then his young mind had revolved plans which 



220 WARREN HASTINGS 

might be called romantic. Yet, however romantic, it is not likely 
that they had been so strange as the truth. Not only had the 
poor orphan retrieved the fallen fortunes of his line. Not only 
had he repurchased the old lands and rebuilt the old dwelling. 
5 He had preserved and extended an empire. He had founded a 
polity. He had administered government and war with more 
than the capacity of Richelieu. He had patronized learning 
with the judicious liberality of Cosmo. He had been attacked 
by the most formidable combination of enemies that ever 

io sought the destruction of a single victim ; and over that com- 
bination, after a struggle of ten years, he had triumphed. 
He had at length gone down to his grave in the fullness of 
age : in peace, after so many troubles ; in honor, after so 
much obloquy. 

15 Those who look on his character without favor or malevo- 
lence will pronounce that, in the two great elements of all social 
virtue, in respect for the rights of others and in sympathy for 
the sufferings of others, he was deficient. His principles were 
somewhat lax. His heart was somewhat hard. But while we 

20 cannot with truth describe him either as a righteous or as a 
merciful ruler, we cannot regard without admiration the ampli- 
tude and fertility of his intellect, his rare talents for command, 
for administration, and for controversy, his dauntless courage, 
his honorable poverty, his fervent zeal for the interests of the 

25 state, his noble equanimity, tried by both extremes of fortune 
and never disturbed by either. 



NOTES ON LORD CLIVE 

(The figures in heavy-faced type refer to pages, the figures in lighter type to lines.) 

1 5 Every schoolboy knows : not all of the historical allusions are 
familiar to schoolboys. It is even doubtful whether many schoolboys 
would know where to look up some of the allusions. Macaulay, as is 
often his method, himself explains who imprisoned Montezuma, namely, 
Cortes. Another Spanish explorer and conqueror, Pizarro, caused 
Atahualpa, king in Peru, to be strangled. The Spanish cities of Sara- 
gossa, Toledo, Seville, Barcelona, and Cadiz ought to need no further 
explanation for students who remember their geography. Ferdinand the 
Catholic, with his queen, Isabella, brought all of Spain into one king- 
dom, which the king and queen ruled with great splendor. Queen Isa- 
bella provided Columbus with money to sail westward. The Great Captain 
was Hernandez de Cordova, who materially aided King Ferdinand in 
the wars against the Moors and helped the king of Naples in his war 
with the king of France. 

1 7 highly cultivated minds : Macaulay is no doubt correct in thinking 
that not one university man in ten could tell that Major Munro in 1764 
won the battle of Buxar against Sujah Dowlah and his allies, Shah Alum 
and Mir Cossim (Nabob of Bengal) ; that Mir Cossim in 1763 perpetrated 
the massacre of Patna, in which the head of the Patna trading post, 
over a hundred and fifty other Englishmen, and two thousand sepoys 
were cut to pieces, a massacre which later in the essay is said to have 
surpassed in atrocity that of the Black Hole ; that Sujah Dowlah ruled in 
Oude, in the northern part of India, and not in Travancore, in the ex- 
treme south ; that Holkar, one of the chiefs of the powerful race called 
Mahrattas, was a Hindoo and not a Mussulman. 

2 2 handful of his countrymen : this is no exaggeration. The sentence 
serves as topic for the whole essay. Clive, as leader of the handful of 
Englishmen, subjugated in the course of a few years one of the greatest 
empires in the world. Macaulay- does not limit himself to the exploits 
of Clive ; the essay covers the whole period of Indian history in the 
events of which Clive was chiefly concerned. 

221 



222 NOTES 

2 7 the historians : James Mill, author of " History of British India," 
and Robert Orme, author of " History of the Military Transactions of 
the British Nation in Indostan from the year 1745." 

2 17 volumes before us : Macaulay's method of reviewing a book was 
one commonly employed in the first half of the nineteenth century 
when a distinguished group of essayists filled the pages of Knight's 
Quarterly and the Edinburgh Review. The book that he was ostensibly 
reviewing Macaulay would use as the basis for a long article on the 
general subject which was touched by the book being reviewed. After 
two or three paragraphs on the book he would approach the large sub- 
ject involved and would make later only casual references to the book 
that served as his text. In " Lord Clive " he nominally reviews Sir John 
Malcolm's three-volume " Life of Robert, Lord Clive," a book the chief 
merit of which is that it is enriched by extracts from Clive's corre- 
spondence. The materials for the book were placed at the disposal of 
Malcolm by Clive's eldest son, Edward, who in 1804 was made Earl of 
Powis in recognition of his services as governor of Madras from 1798 
to 1803 ; Macaulay speaks of Edward Clive as the late Lord Powis, be- 
cause he died only the year before the essay was published. The essay 
was first published in the Edinburgh Review in January, 1840, though the 
author began work on it nearly a year before. 

2 32 passes the love of biographers : an adaptation of Scriptural phra- 
seology — " Thy love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women " 
(2 Samuel i. 26). Like the contemporary essayist Ruskin, Macaulay 
quotes or adapts many Scriptural phrases. Other passages in " Lord 
Clive " taken from the Bible or suggested by the Bible are as follows : 
"with the rapidity of the prophet's gourd," 5 9, from Jonah iv. 6-10; 
" Gog or Magog of prophecy," 11 15, from Revelations xx. 8 ; " given up 
the ghost," 21 24, from Acts v. 5 ; " ' yea, yea,' and '■ nay, nay,' " 48 23, 
from Matthew v. 37 and James v. 12; "wages of corruption," 50 22, 
from Romans vi. 23 ; " little- finger . . . thicker than the loins," 63 32, from 
1 Kings xii. 10; "had chosen the good part," 681, from Luke x. 42 ; 
"which rejoiceth exceedingly," 87 32, from Job iii. 22. 

3 11 Market-Dray ton, in Shropshire : guide books now find nothing 
else to say about this small town except' that Clive was born here, and 
as a boy climbed the lofty steeple of St. Stephen's Church. Market- 
Drayton is about forty miles southwest of Manchester. 

3 29 one of his uncles : Bayley, husband of Clive's mother's sister. 
Living with the Bayley s, Clive spent part of his youth near the city of 
Manchester. 

4 6 school to school : the schools were at Lostocke in Cheshire and at 



LORD CLIVE 223 

Market-Drayton ; in the city of London, — the Merchant Taylors' School ; 
and at Hemel Hempstead in Hertfordshire. The master who prophe- 
sied that the idle lad would make a great figure in the world was Dr. 
Eaton of Lostocke, whose words were, " If that lad should live to be a 
man, and an opportunity be given for the exertion of his talents, few 
names would be greater than his." 

415 writership : ' clerkship.' — East India Company: for the method 
of conducting the Company see the note on " Directors," 27 14. 

4 16 shipped him off : by reference to 98 33 and 99 6 it will be seen 
that both Clive and Hastings started as junior clerks in the Indian civil 
service. 

4 17 Madras : the geography of India as touched upon in these essays 
will prove puzzling without frequent reference to the maps. It will be 
well to fix in mind the location of Madras and the Carnatic province on 
the southeastern or Coromandel coast, Calcutta and the Bengal province 
in the northeast, and Bombay on the western or Malabar coast. With 
these fixed points and districts to go by, it will not be so difficult 
to understand the location of the smaller trading posts, native cities, 
and provinces that are being constantly mentioned. Besides the two 
maps in this book, the maps numbered 104 and 105 in the atlas of the 
Century Dictionary, if available, will be found useful, for they contain 
practically all places referred to in the essays. Moreover, the Century 
atlas is provided with a complete and convenient index. A book of 
even more value, though not so likely to be found in every school or 
city library, is Edward Thornton's " A Gazetteer of the Territories under 
the Government of the East India Company and of the Native States 
on the Continent of India." This gazetteer was published in London 
in 1857 by W. H. Allen & Co. 

4 19 East India College : young men who had been named to be clerks 
in the service spent two preparatory years at the college founded by the 
East India Company in 1806 at Haileybury, Hertfordshire. The studies 
included law and Oriental languages. In 1858, after the establishment of 
a competitive system for the appointment of clerks had taken away from 
the East India directors their privilege of naming clerks without exam- 
ination, the old college was closed. The present Haileybury College 
was founded in 1862 (Haydn's " Dictionary of Dates"). — now: one of the 
author's favorite words in the essays, for he continually compares con- 
ditions of the times of Clive and Hastings with conditions which he 
knew in 1838 when he himself lived in India. 

4 20 Presidencies : chief administrative divisions, of which there were 
three, namely, Bengal, Bombay, and Madras. 



224 NOTES 

5 13 cool breeze : the vivid detail brightens up the paragraph and helps 
to make Macaulay's writing " sufficiently animated and picturesque to 
attract those who read for amusement" (2 9). Those who read merely 
for instruction might try the article on India in the Encyclopedia Britan- 
nica. There they will find, for example, that the average annual mean 
temperature in the Madras region is over 8o degrees. 

5 17 But : have you already noticed Macaulay's abundant use of this 
connective ? What characteristic of his style is indicated by the free 
use of "but" ? 

5 27 Anglo-Indian of the present day : starting work on the essay as 
soon as he returned to London from India in 1839, Macaulay realized 
keenly the feelings of Anglo-Indians, that is, Englishmen who had 
returned from service in India. 

5 31 independent power : it was not until the completion of the work 
of Clive and Hastings that the English governors could claim much 
independent power. See numerous references in later paragraphs. 

5 32 Nabob . . . Nizam . . . Great Mogul : in the two essays there are 
repeated references to the various titles of rulers in India. " Nabob " is a 
Hindoo term for viceroy or governor, especially under the old Mogul 
empire. " Dowlah " is the Mohammedan title equivalent to governor. 
" Nizam," " Great Mogul," " Shah," " Padishah," " Rajah," " Maharajah," 
" Khan," and " Peshwa" are all terms meaning chief ruler or king. More 
specifically, Nizam means a native ruler of Hyderabad; Great Mogul 
means emperor of Delhi, where Tamerlane established his capital ; Shah 
and Padishah (Persian in origin) signify king or ruler, but are now in 
India often merely common additions to surnames ; Rajah is an Anglo- 
Indian word meaning a Hindoo chief or prince in a tribal state, but is often 
used as a mere title of distinction ; Maharajah is a title of some native 
Hindoo rulers ; Khan means, in some Asiatic countries, a sovereign ruler, 
but is in India usually nothing but a title like the English " esquire," 
applicable to almost any person of repute ; Peshwa meant formerly a 
chief of the Mahrattas. w Vizier " is a title applied to a high official in a 
Mohammedan country, especially a minister of state (see the Standard 
Dictionary). 

In order to understand Macaulay's use of some of these terms, one 
must know something of the early history of India. The nominal ruler 
when Clive arrived at Madras was the emperor, known by the title of 
Great Mogul. This Mogul had come gradually into his place of power 
and had gradually lost it. Two races, each professing the Mohammedan 
religion, in turn swept over the native Hindoos. The first of these races 
were the Afghans ; the next, the Mongols or Moguls. In the eleventh 



LORD CLIVE 225 

century a king from Afghanistan occupied part of northern India. In 
the thirteenth century the Afghans took the Deccan, the great south 
central province, and soon ruled all India. In the fourteenth century 
Mongolian or Mogul chiefs, defeating the Afghan rulers, passed from 
central Asia beyond the Indus River. Tamerlane, a powerful Mogul 
chief, captured Delhi and made the name of the Moguls feared even in 
the far south. The next century, with the departure of the Mogul tribes 
to their native Central Asia, the whole land of India was in a state of 
local independence or of troubled Afghan rule. Then in the sixteenth 
century Baber, the Tiger, a descendant of Tamerlane, conquered the 
Afghan rulers and brought nearly all the Hindoos into the Mogul em- 
pire (see 9 29). Other Mogul emperors, Akbar the Great, Jehangir, 
Shah Jehan, and Aurungzebe, continued the Mogul rule on a scale of 
unsurpassed magnificence at the capital, Agra, which was adorned with 
the wonderful Taj Mahal and other magnificent buildings (see 9 33). Au- 
rungzebe, "the king of the world," tyrannized over the native Hindoos 
and favored the foreign Mohammedans to such an extent that there was 
bound to be a recoil. About the beginning of the eighteenth century 
the Mogul power began actually to decline, though nominally the Great 
Mogul, as Macaulay says, continued in such authority that the Nizam or 
Viceroy of the Deccan was only his deputy. 

6 3 There is still : note the three successive sentences beginning in 
the same way. This rhetorical effect, called repeated structure, is a help 
to clearness and force of expression. 

6 7 resident : as used before the organization of the civil service, the 
word meant a person residing in a place as the chief of one of the com- 
mercial establishments of the East India Company. Later, the word 
meant a representative of the viceroy at an important native court, as 
at Lucknow or Delhi. Compare " residencies," 61 2. 

6 17 His pay was small : what is the effect of the short sentences used 
here ? 

6 22 Fort St. George : the official name for Madras. 

7 10 As a boy : one of the best of the numerous Macaulay balances. 
7 12 But neither climate nor : the first half of this sentence serves as 

a transition to a new line of thought which is developed in the para- 
graph. There are numerous examples of this linking together of the 
parts of the essay. 

7 19 Wallenstein : this is the sort of historical allusion that makes the 
reading of the essay difficult for one who lacks a background of his- 
torical information. Really the comparison only confuses the average 
reader, for the allusion adds nothing to the idea, which was already plain 



226 NOTES 

without the comparison. Wallenstein (i 583-1634) was a general in the 
Thirty Years' War between Roman Catholic and Protestant forces in 
Germany. Schiller has put the story of Wallenstein into a great tragedy. 

7 23 an event : the humiliation of the English governor of Madras 
(see the next paragraph). Macaulay, following a favorite method of his 
in the essays, stops the direct course of the narrative of Clive's life, and 
introduces explanatory historical matter intended to make the particu- 
lar narrative plainer when it is resumed. What other illustrations of this 
method appear in the two essays ? 

8 17 conquests made by the French arms : the French influence in 
India began at Surat (north of Bombay) in 1666, with the establishment 
of the first French trading post. After suffering a number of setbacks 
from the Dutch colonizers, the French, in 1741, when Dupleix became 
governor of Pondicherry, began to go forward in power. The " gigantic 
schemes " of conquest which Dupleix attempted to carry out are told in 
the following paragraphs of the essay. 

8 29 Clive fled : observe that the narrative of Clive's actions in India 
is here resumed. 

95 a desperate duel : over Clive's charge that the bully had cheated 
at cards. What duel did Hastings engage in ? 

9 20 Major Lawrence : in his old age Major Stringer Lawrence received 
an annual pension of ^500 from Clive in recognition of his early kind- 
ness to the young soldier. 

9 29 Baber and his Moguls : see note 5 32. The substance of the ex- 
planatory history given on pages 9-18 is that, in the confusion resulting 
from the struggle between the Mohammedans and the Hindoos, an am- 
bitious Frenchman, Dupleix, allying himself with claimants to great 
provinces on the east coast and in central India, became practical mas- 
ter of thirty million people, and had apparently little to fear from Eng- 
lish rivalry. These pages might be cut out in an abridgment of the 
essay. What is the author's purpose in inserting them ? 

9 34 travelers who had seen St. Peter's : Sir Thomas Roe and Fran- 
cois Bernier, named on page 12, line 5, wrote accounts of the astonish- 
ing things they saw in India, — things which were astonishing even to men 
who had seen St. Peter's. For Roe's advice on the Indian problem see 
page 68, line 30. Another traveler, Tavernier, saw the Kohinoor dia- 
mond at the court of Aurungzebe. The reason why Macaulay mentioned 
St. Peter's was no doubt his own memory of that great building. In his 
journal, November 18, 1838, he writes concerning his first visit to St. 
Peter's at Rome : " I was for a minute fairly stunned by the magnifi- 
cence and harmony of the interior. I never in my life saw, and never, 



LORD CLIVE 227 

I suppose, shall see again, anything so astonishingly beautiful. I really 
could have cried with pleasure. I rambled about for half an hour or 
more, paying little or no attention to details, but enjoying the effect of 
the sublime whole." 

10 3 Versailles : the group of palaces at Versailles, near Paris, seems 
of dazzling brilliancy even now when the palaces are merely show places 
and the furnishings are arranged stiffly for exhibition. Macaulay's point 
is that the magnitude of St. Peter's and the luxury of Versailles were as 
nothing compared with the pomp of the Mogul emperors. 

10 33 no small analogy : like so many of Macaulay's historical analogies 
or parallels or comparisons, this one, by which the successors of Aurung- 
zebe are compared with the successors of Theodosius, though meant to 
elucidate, really confuses, for the reader probably knows no more about 
Theodosius than about Aurungzebe. Theodosius, a powerful emperor 
of Rome, was succeeded by his sons, Arcadius and Honorius, who were 
weaklings ; and they in turn were succeeded by other weaklings, so that the 
mighty Holy Roman Empire was easily broken up by the Germanic tribes 
and the Huns that attacked the frontiers and finally reached Rome itself. 

11 34 chewing bhang: Macaulay's way of expressing contempt for use- 
lessness. Bhang is a stimulating drug extracted from hemp. 

12 3 A Persian conqueror : Nadir Shah carried off the treasures of 
Delhi in 1739. The Peacock Throne is variously estimated to have been 
worth from thirty to sixty million dollars. The peacock's tail was made 
of blue sapphires and diamonds from the mines of Golconda, near Hyder- 
abad. The body was of gold inlaid with gems, among them a splendid 
ruby. In front of the breast was suspended a pear-shaped, fifty-carat 
pearl. The Mountain of Light may well be called " inestimable." It is the 
famous Kohinoor diamond, now kept in Windsor Castle, though a model 
of it is on exhibition with the other crown jewels in the Tower, Lon- 
don. This diamond came into the hands of the English in 1849 on their 
conquest of the Punjab, and was presented to Queen Victoria by the 
East India Company in 1850. 

12 10 The Afghan : Ahmed Shah invaded India in 1748. 

1212 Rajpootana: in northwest India. The Hindoos who dwelt in Raj - 
pootana were, like the Rohillas, the Seiks, the Jauts, and the Mahrattas, 
— all in northwestern India, — stronger and more courageous than the 
Bengalese of northeastern India. 

12 13 Rohilcund : the inhabitants of Rohilcund, that is the Rohillas, 
were roving mountaineer warriors. Compare 118 24-119 20. 

12 14 Seiks : starting in the fifteenth century as reformers of Hin- 
dooism, the Seiks or Sikhs made headway in the Punjab, until they 



228 NOTES 

conquered the whole of it. The Punjab was annexed by the English 
in 1849, a f ter a series of battles with the Sikhs had been won by the 
English. The Sikh soldier customarily prayed to his sword. See the 
Century Dictionary of Names. — Jauts : these warlike people, living 
in the north of India, with their capital near Agra, were conquered by the 
English in 1826. 

12 23 Mahrattas : a Hindoo race settled in northwestern India. 

12 33 milder . . . tiger : characteristically lively and specific diction. 

13 5 innumerable cavalry : what other examples do you find of un- 
qualifiedly strong statements. 

13 9 Mahratta ditch : an earthwork dug in 1742 about Calcutta to keep 
out the Mahrattas of the district of Berar. What is the function of the 
semicolon in this sentence ? 

13 10 Wherever the viceroys : contrast the abrupt opening of this 
paragraph with the smooth connection between most of the paragraphs. 

13 31 fifteen thousand miles : by the route then followed, before the 
building of the Suez Canal. 

14 12 only : criticize the word order. 

14 19 Saxe or Frederic : again historical allusions are made for the 
purpose of comparison. Maurice, Comte de Saxe, best known as Mar- 
shal Saxe, 1696-1750, won many victories for France in the War of the 
Austrian Succession, notably that of Fontenoy over the English and 
their allies in 1745. Frederic the Great was king of Prussia from 1740 
to 1786. 

14 31 confounded the confusion : a phrase taken from line 996 of the 
second book of Milton's " Paradise Lost." It is said that Macaulay could 
repeat from memory the whole of this poem. 

15 8 heir of Baber : explained by the word Mogul in the next sentence. 

16 1 success . . . war : besides capturing Madras, the French success- 
fully defended Pondicherry from an attack by the English. 

16 13 eloquence of Burke : for appreciative characterizations of Burke, 
turn to pages 190 and 204. 

16 24 Te Deum ; a Latin hymn of thanks and rejoicing which begins 
Te Deum laudamus, that is, " Thee, God, we praise." What is the syntax 
of Te Deum as used by Macaulay ? 

16 28 palanquin : what does Macaulay gain for his narrative by the 
introduction of this and similar strange words ? 

16 30 Cape Comorin : southernmost point of India. 

17 18 vainglorious Frenchman : what other adjectives are applied to 
Dupleix ? Macaulay's national prejudices are wont to appear sharply in 
his writings. 



LORD CLIVE 229 

18 1 seemed impossible : by magnifying in advance the difficulties of 
a situation and then showing how Clive or Hastings overcame them 
with limited resources, the author extravagantly praises the two men. 

18 3 had returned : have you observed Macaulay's fondness for the 
pluperfect? Running rapidly over events that had happened, he had 
a way of preparing by his pluperfect summary for a narrative of events 
to be told in detail in regular order. 

18 13 obscure English youth : observe the author's art in withholding 
the name till the opening of the next paragraph. 

18 15 twenty-five years old : note the method of dating the event. 
Would you understand the essay better if the year of each important 
event were given by the author ? 

18 24 Arcot : the fort, which was large but not strong, was established 
in 17 1 6. 

19 4 thunder, lightning, and rain : Macaulay's retentive memory often 
called to his mind, while he was writing, phrases from the Bible or 
Milton or Shakespeare or other English classics. The phraseology here 
is taken from " Macbeth," I, i. Where do you find in the book another 
quotation from this play ? 

20 15 Tenth Legion of Caesar : by alluding to Caesar's most trusted legion 
and to Napoleon's most seasoned soldiers, does the essayist help you to 
understand better the nature of the devotion of Clive's soldiers to him ? 

20 20 no more touching : see the same phrase two paragraphs later. 
Does the repetition make you conjecture that both the assertions are 
exaggerated ? 

21 2 large bribes : what was Clive's later record with regard to bribes ? 
21 10 Mohammedan festival : mention other spellings of the word 

Mohammedan. The festival was in honor of Hosein, who was a son of 
Mohammed's first disciple, Ali, and his wife, Fatima. Hosein, called 
later in the paragraph the chief of the Fatimites, was assassinated by 
order of a rival, Yazid, the Khalif, whom the author calls the tyrant. 
Islam, which literally means obedience to God, is another term for 
Mohammedanism. Still another term is " Mussulmanism." What is the 
author's purpose in telling the effect of the festival on Mohammedans ? 
Compare the account of the siege of Arcot in some other history with 
the lively, graphic narrative of Macaulay. 

21 27 garden of the Houris : Mohammedan paradise. 

22 13 of fanaticism and of intoxication : for the meaning, see the last 
sentence of the preceding paragraph. Why does the author repeat " of " ? 

23 24 just and profound policy : does Macaulay usually induce you to 
accept his opinion ? Does he here ? 



230 NOTES 

23 27 a spell. This spell : the method of closely connecting sentences 
by repeating at the beginning of one sentence the last word or phrase of 
the preceding sentence has been aptly called "echo" by Professor J.M. 
Hart (" A Handbook of English Composition," p. 14). How many 
examples of " echo " do you find in the two essays ? 

24 8 bare justice : frequently Macaulay speaks of doing justice to 
some one ; he often uses such expressions as " justice," " justified," " un- 
just," " impartial," " judge," and " injustice." With all these references to 
the impartiality of his attitude, does he convince you of his lack of bias ? 

25 2 Captain Bobadil : what is the use of such literary allusions as 
this ? Bobadil is a boaster in Ben Jonson's comedy, " Every Man in 
His Humour." 

25 18 probably : is this a good word to use in the writing of history ? 

25 29 decline : what word would contrast better with " increase " ? 

26 6 worst and lowest wretches : called in the next sentence an " un- 
disciplined rabble " and in the sentence after that called sarcastically 
" extraordinary soldiers." Does the author's constant attempt to depre- 
ciate the means that Clive employed and to exaggerate the insignificant 
opposition with which he had to contend grow a little tiresome to you ? 

26 8 flash houses : that is, houses frequented by criminals and dis- 
solute idlers, both men and women. 

26 30 married : why does not the author give more space to an 
account of Clive's family life ? 

27 14 Directors : the method of management of the East India Com- 
pany was changed several times. In the time of Clive, a person who 
owned ^500 of stock was a Proprietor. The Proprietors made the reg- 
ulations for the Company, and annually elected twenty-four Directors. 
The Directors administered the affairs of the Company. In 1773, the 
year before Clive died, Parliament passed a regulating act which cur- 
tailed the powers of the Directors. In 1784 the India Bill established 
a Parliamentary Board of Control to approve or annul acts of the 
Directors. 

28 6 evacuation: 'squandering.' 

28 8 the Government : what have the next two pages to do with the 
main theme of the essay ? 

28 27 First Lord of the Treasury : in the English cabinet the prime 
minister held official position as first lord of the treasury. Compare 
29 20, where " the Treasury " means the prime minister. 

28 29 breaking . . . promoting : what words of the preceding part of 
the sentence do these two words explain ? What is the use of the semi- 
colon in this sentence ? 



LORD CLIVE 231 

28 33 Reform Act in 1832 : this act abolished such " wretched " bor- 
oughs as that referred to by Macaulay. Many boroughs of insignificant 
population and importance had come to be known as " rotten boroughs." 
They were represented in Parliament when great manufacturing cities 
like Manchester were unrepresented. The Reform Act distributed rep- 
resentation more fairly. See note on " Old Sarum," 126 24. 

29 7 committee of the whole House : to expedite business, legislative 
bodies often find it convenient to consider the whole body for the time 
as a committee. Often in committees of the whole House the attendance 
is small, since the actions of the committee must be approved by the 
House in regular session. In the case referred to there were numerous 
committee votes in favor of the " returning " or electing of Clive. A vote 
was taken thus : those favoring one side passed into one room and those 
favoring the other passed into another room ; this was called a " divi- 
sion." Later, in the case of Clive, the House of Commons in regular 
session rejected the action of itself when it had met as a committee. 

30 13 the East : like " Asia " of the preceding sentence, this is used 
to avoid repetition of the word " India." 

30 26 Of the provinces : abrupt sequence. Pages 30-36 are devoted 
to the Black Hole incident, which has nothing directly to do with Clive, 
but is one of Macaulay's most vivid bits of writing. 

30 28 for agriculture and for commerce : note how the details in five 
following sentences develop the idea of the advantages of Bengal in 
agriculture, and then the details of the next two sentences develop the 
idea of the advantages for commerce. It is a pleasure to follow the sys- 
tematic workings of Macaulay's mind as he unfolds a general statement. 
What is the theme of the whole paragraph of which these key words 
are a part ? 

31 26 a hundred genuine Bengalese : note how the specific detail 
clinches Macaulay's general assertion as to the enervated Bengalese. 
A similar idea is found on page no, line 19, " All those millions do not 
furnish one sepoy to the armies of the Company." 

32 8 the Course : a driveway in the suburbs of Calcutta. 

32 16 Aliverdy Khan : a usurper, Nabob of Bengal, Orissa, and Bahar 
from 1740 to 1756. He was succeeded as Nabob by his grandson, 
Surajah Dowlah, eighteen years old (Hunter's " India," Dutcher's edi- 
tion, in the History of the Nations Series, published by Morris of 
Philadelphia, p. 182). 

33 24 frightened out of his wits : familiar, colloquial diction. What 
other instances do you find of colloquial language in the essays ? 

3410 summer solstice : June 20, 1756. 



232 NOTES 

34 22 Nothing in history or fiction : compare " a massacre surpassing 
in atrocity that of the Black Hole," 63 12, and comment on Macaulay's 
consistency. — Ugolino : an Italian nobleman represented by Dante in his 
" Inferno " as frozen in a lake of ice and devouring the head of an enemy 
who had starved him to death in prison. He is referred to also in the 
essay on Milton. 

35 4 The day broke : short, crisp sentences give the effect of vigor 
and liveliness to a narrative. 

36 4 In August : year 1 7 56. 

36 13 more subjects : another instance of Macaulay's trying to empha- 
size the difficulties to be overcome by Clive. The population of Bengal 
at that time was estimated at about thirty millions, though no approxi- 
mately accurate census was taken in India till much later than this period. 

36 15 did not reach Bengal till December : the distance from Madras 
to Calcutta is about one thousand miles. 

37 8 accommodation: 'agreement.' 

37 13 war had commenced in Europe : the Seven Years' War between 
Frederick II of Prussia and the allies, Austria, Russia, and France, lasted 
from 1756 to 1763. 

37 23 statesman : in making a topical outline of the essay, would you 
make as two of the main headings Clive's acts as a soldier (pages 7- 
37), and Clive's acts as a statesman (pages 37-74) ? What material do 
you find in these pages not directly relevant to the work of Clive as a 
soldier and a statesman ? 

37 28 a stain : observe the key words in later paragraphs which bring 
out the nature of the stain on Clive's moral character : " intriguer," 
" hypocritical caresses," " substitution of documents," " counterfeiting 
of hands," "dissimulation," "artifice," "expedient," "forged," "breach 
of faith," " wages of corruption," and " rapacity." 

39 31 The Nabob : is anything gained by the same opening for two 
successive paragraphs ? 

40 16 Mohammedans . . . Hindoos : the two chief religions of India. 
They are still in conflict, for the recent reforms of Lord Morley, as 
governor-general, are said by one of the leading Hindoos to have 
divided India into two huge compartments, Hindoo and Mohammedan. 
The reform of Lord Morley is objected to by the Indian Association of 
Calcutta because " the Hindu population strongly objects to class rep- 
resentation being granted the Mohammedan community beyond their 
numerical strength." 

42 30 mighty power : what is Macaulay's purpose in using this phrase 
with regard to the opposition to Clive ? See in the next paragraph, " an 



LORD CLIVE 233 

army twenty times as numerous as his own," and several paragraphs 
later, " only three thousand men." The numbers of the opposing armies 
as given by Macaulay are substantially the same as the figures in 
Malleson's life of Clive. Malleson puts the numbers as somewhat less 
for Clive and more for the Nabob. 

43 13 masters of Bengal : the essayist does not in this sentence over- 
estimate the importance of the battle of Plassey in the history of British 
operations in India, nor does he three paragraphs later in the phrase, 
" the day which was to decide the fate of India." He does not give details 
of the important battle of Buxar, referred to in the first paragraph, be- 
cause Clive was not the commander at Buxar. It is Clive with whom 
this essay is mainly concerned, though the author glances at the cur- 
rents of the whole Indian history of the time. 

43 19 The river was passed : study the paragraph sequence. Macaulay 
leads up to the passing of the river almost as if he had in mind 
Caesar's famous moment of decision which led him to cross the 
Rubicon. 

44 11 the bolder race : the forces of the Nabob were largely of the 
warlike race of Rajpoots. 

44 21 Primus in Indis: 'First in India.' 

46 21 a lad in Brazil : Malcolm says that Clive had an easy command 
of the Portuguese language. 

46 30 servants : employees in the civil service. 

46 32 Omichund : deceived by the two treaties, one false and the other 
genuine, he lost his reason for a time, but only for a time. Soon he was 
at his old business again (Malleson's life of Clive). 

47 17 judgment of our readers : study Macaulay's method of argu- 
ment. Do his powers in this kind of writing appear equal to his skill in 
narrative and descriptive composition ? 

47 30 Machiavelli : this Italian statesman of Florence (1469-1 527) rep- 
resents to the popular mind the acme of expedient subtlety in political 
manipulation; he believed that the end justifies the means. He remained 
for some months with Caesar Borgia in conference regarding Borgia's 
intentions toward the Florentine republic. Machiavelli's " II Principe," 
that is, " The Prince," written at a time when Italian politics were unprin- 
cipled, is severely condemned by Macaulay in his essay on Machiavelli. 
One of Macaulay's most striking criticisms is this : " Principles which 
the most hardened ruffian would scarcely hint to his most trusted 
accomplice, or avow, without the disguise of palliating sophism, even to 
his own mind, are professed without the slightest circumlocution, and 
assumed as the fundamental axioms of all political science." 



234 NOTES 

48 2 that, for this reason : the sentence is puzzling at first reading 
because the antecedent of " that " is not obvious. Macaulay means that 
the rule is subject to still fewer exceptions for the reason that the life 
of societies is longer than the life of individuals. 

49 33 shower of wealth : Malcolm gives the details of the treaty as 
reported by Clive to the Secret Committee of the Court of Directors in 
17 58. One of the provisions was that one hundred lacs of rupees, equiv- 
alent to ;£i, 000,000, were to be paid to the Company in consideration 
of the loss at Calcutta and the expenses of the campaign. Another pro- 
vision was that seventy-seven lacs were to be paid to the Council and 
Clive for distribution among the sufferers at Calcutta — English, Arme- 
nians, Moors, etc. Notice how picturesquely Macaulay tells of this shower 
of wealth that fell upon the Company and Clive. 

50 13 Venetians purchased : before Vasco da Gama passed around the 
Cape of Good Hope to the East in 1498, the Venetians had practical 
control of the trade with the East, the only route being by way of Venice, 
Constantinople, Bagdad, and the Persian Gulf. Florins were coins of 
Florence, and byzants were coins of Byzantium or Constantinople. 

50 1G between two and three hundred thousand pounds : really a little 
less than ^"200,000. Clive himself said, " When I recollect entering the 
treasury of Moorshedabad, with the heaps of gold and silver to the right 
hand and to the left, and these crowned with jewels, I stand astonished at 
my own moderation." See also 83 27. Note how Macaulay transforms these 
general words of Clive into the specific terms " rubies" and " diamonds." 

50 20 vehemently defended : Macaulay is hardly fair to Malcolm, who 
merely asserts what Mill also asserts, — that there was no law to forbid 
Clive's conduct, which was parallel to the Duke of Marlborough's accept- 
ing the principality of Mindelheim from Emperor Joseph I in 1705 ; to 
Nelson's accepting in 1798 the estate of Bronte in Sicily from Fer- 
dinand IV, king of Naples ; and to Wellington's accepting the dukedom 
of Vittoria from Ferdinand VII, king of Spain, in 1813, all by the con- 
sent of the English queen or king of the time. 

52 28 viceroy of . . . Oude : that is, Sujah Dowlah, whose province of 
Oude became practically independent of Mogul authority in 1753, and 
whose armies were able after that to hold in check the powerful Mahratta 
freebooters who threatened to overrun all of northwestern India. 

52 34 India House : the London office of the East India Company 
was at the corner of Leadenhall Street and Lime Street, in the eastern 
part of London. Charles Lamb was a clerk there for over thirty years', 
and James Mill, author of a history of India, was another of the 
clerks who became famous. 



LORD CLIVE 235 

53 32 tract . . . north of the Carnatic : ceded in 1753 to the French 
by the Nizam of Hyderabad. 

55 30 his tenant : that is, the Company had agreed to pay the thirty 
thousand pounds annually to Nabob Meer Jaffier, but now the Nabob 
turned the money over to Clive, so that the Company became in a sense 
the tenant of Clive. 

56 11 Batavia : a Dutch settlement, capital of the island of Java, and 
one of the chief Dutch colonies. 

57 18 sailed for England : February 5, 1760. 

57 23 Irish peerage : he was made Baron of Plassey, but, being in the 
Irish peerage, he had no seat in the House of Lords. As a baron he is 
usually referred to as Lord Clive. 

57 26 Pitt : William Pitt, the elder, better known as the Earl of Chat- 
ham. Macaulay wrote two Edinburgh Review essays about the Earl of 
Chatham, one published in 1834, the other in 1844. 

57 33 King of Prussia : compare 14 19. Frederick the Great is said to 
have told a commander in chief that a certain young nobleman would 
better go to Clive if desirous of learning the art of war. Frederick is 
referred to at the end of the paragraph as one of the " great tacticians of 
Germany." — no reporters : reports of the House of Commons, where Pitt 
was a " great orator," were not made verbatim, but were written outside 
from memory by listeners like Dr. Samuel Johnson. It was not until 
1834 that a box was built in which reporters were allowed to sit and 
take down the exact proceedings of the House. 

58 4 the only English general : what is Macaulay's purpose in belittling 
the work of other English generals, except Wolfe ? Wolfe captured 
Quebec in 1759. The Duke of Cumberland's single victory gained over 
his countrymen was won in the suppression of the Jacobite rebellion in 
Scotland in 1746; he was so cruel that he was dubbed "the butcher." 
Conway was a general of no particular achievements in the Seven Years' 
War. Granby, also in the Seven Years' War, helped in the battle of 
Minden. Sackville was commander of the cavalry at Minden ; disobey- 
ing an order to charge the French, he was accused of cowardice, " the 
imputation most fatal to the character of a soldier." The chief com- 
mand at Minden in 1759 an( ^ at Warburg the next year, when the French 
were defeated by the allied English and Prussians, was held' by Prince 
Ferdinand of Brunswick, the foreign general. It is characteristic of 
Macaulay's style to substantiate a general statement by such specific 
instances as those named in this paragraph. 

59 25 worthless demogogue Wilkes : Green gives in his " Short His- 
tory of the English People " a graphic account of Wilkes's attempts to 



236 NOTES 

be seated as a member from Middlesex. Pitt denounced Wilkes as a 
" worthless profligate." 

60 18 Grampound election : the Cornish borough of Grampound was 
disfranchised in 1820 because of its notorious corruption in elections. 

60 24 ballot : each proprietor dropped in a box one ball for each block 
of five hundred pounds of stock owned by him. 

61 3 Sudder courts : the principal civil and criminal courts. 

61 16 Pigot : this governor of Madras made ^"400,000 in India. 

6125 South Sea year: that is, 1720, when the shares of the South 
Sea Company, which had been chartered in 17 11 to trade with Spanish 
South America, jumped in value from one hundred pounds to a thousand 
pounds. 

63 32 little finger : this application of Biblical phraseology produces 
an extraordinarily vivid figure of speech. What have you observed 
regarding the nature and the number of Macaulay's figures of speech ? 

65 8 wholesale executions : for instance, Major Munro blew twenty- 
four mutinous Sepoy leaders from the cannon's mouth in 1764 at Patna. 

65 17 Verres : as praetor of Sicily, Verres so oppressed the Sicilians 
that they accused him before the Roman Senate, Cicero being the 
orator who brought the accusation. 

66 15 In May, 1765, he reached Calcutta : when you make your topi- 
cal outline of the entire essay, would it be better, instead of dividing 
into main headings as mentioned in note 37 23, to make the main groups 
Clive's first stay in India, his first return to England, his second stay, 
his second return, his third stay, and his final return ? 

69 15 proconsuls, propraetors, procurators : terms used in the govern- 
ment of the Roman Empire. See dictionary for distinctions in meaning. 

69 30 monopoly of salt : there is still a tax on salt in India. What is 
the particular importance of salt in a tropical country ? 

70 1 accused by historians : for instance, Mill and Thornton. 

71 7 cashiered : dishonorably dismissed from the service. 

71 34 chiefs of foreign mercenaries : in the decline of the Western Ro- 
man Empire invading chiefs like Ricimer and Odoacer held the real 
power in the empire. Ricimer made five different emperors in less than 
twenty years. Odoacer was the barbarian leader who overthrew the 
Western Roman Empire in 476 a.d. He was himself overcome by the 
Emperor Theodoric, who, out of policy, had for a time allied himself with 
the emperor of the Eastern Empire at the distant court of Byzantium. 

72 20 Merovingian line : on page 13, line 14, Macaulay spoke of the 
" most helpless driveler among the later Carlovingians." Now he speaks 
of the " last driveling Chilperics and Childerics of the Merovingian 



LORD CLIVE 237 

line." These allusions to the Carlovingian and Merovingian emperors 
can be looked up in detail in any history of medieval Europe. The 
point is that such kings as Chilperic and Childeric were merely nominal 
rulers, while others held the real power. There is a similar allusion 
in the Hastings essay. 

72 25 other European nations : besides the French, the Dutch, and the 
Danes, specifically mentioned here by Macaulay, the Venetians, the Gen- 
oese, and the Portuguese were also concerned in the history of the 
trade and the political control by European nations in India. The trade 
of the Venetians and Genoese was overland, before an all-sea route to 
India had been discovered. The Portuguese, after the landing of Vasco 
da Gama in India, monopolized the trade for half a century. Then the 
Dutch, becoming the greatest maritime power in Europe, took most of 
the trade. The English began to get a hold in 1602. The Danes had an 
East India Company which was early established, but went out of exist- 
ence in 1728. The French power began in 1664 with the establishment 
of the French East India Company. Of all the European powers the 
English have been the strongest in India for the longest time. 

74 4 fund which still bears his name : this was true when written in 
1840, but in 1858 the money was distributed among Clive's heirs after 
the government of India came entirely into the hands of the nation as 
represented by the king or queen. 

74 12 embittered the remaining years : pages 74-88 tell of the embitter- 
ment of Clive's last years, from 1767 to 1774, in spite of his wealth and 
some tokens of royal favor. The sentence serves as a general topic for 
all these paragraphs. Macaulay in most of his essays uses this device 
of a topic sentence for introducing a long stretch of paragraphs. A top- 
ical heading for pages 74-88 might be : Odium of Clive in England in 
spite of wealth and some royal favor, 1767-1774. 

74 28 Nabobs : note the two different senses in which this word is 
used. Pages 75-77 are of a general nature, explaining the feeling in 
England toward nabobs as used in one sense of the word. 

75 10 farmer-general : another of Macaulay's historical comparisons. 
Farmer-generals in France grew rich from paying a lump sum for the 
taxes of a district and then collecting a great deal more from the inhabi- 
tants. Rich as these taxgatherers became, they were scorned by the 
French nobility. Similar, Macaulay says, was the attitude of the English 
nobility toward the upstart rich nabobs. 

75 30 the stud : ' a collection of breeding horses and mares ' (Webster) . 

76 4 Domesday Book : this book, now on exhibition in the Record 
Office Museum on Chancery Lane, London, consists of two parchment 



238 NOTES 

volumes. The book contains, among other statistical features, a record 
of the owners of English farm and wood lands in 1086. Thus a family 
recorded in the Domesday Book would be of very ancient descent. 

76 11 foibles against which comedy : following his usual custom, 
Macaulay illustrates this by mentioning two characters of celebrated 
comedies ; namely, Turcaret, a coarse, rich stock operator, the hero of 
Le Sage's comedy entitled "Turcaret"; and Monsieur Jourdain, a rich 
tradesman, who, in old age, wants to become a polished gentleman, in 
Moliere's " Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme." 

76 12 crimes . . . tragedy : the references are possibly to the Nero of 
Racine's tragedy " Britannicus " and to the Richard III of Shakespeare's 
tragedy « Richard III." 

76 20 dilettante : * a lover of the fine arts.' 

76 21 macaroni black-balled : that is, the men of fashion voted against 
the admission of the nabobs to membership in the fashionable clubs. 
For a familiar use of the word " macaroni," recall the song " Yankee 
Doodle." 

76 25 the whole lighter literature : as usual, the essayist develops his 
general statement by adding a catalogue of names. Foote and Mackenzie 
were comic dramatists of the latter half of the eighteenth century. 
Cowper was the poet referred to again in the eighth paragraph of 
" Hastings." The Sir Matthew Mite of the next paragraph is a character 
in Foote's comedy " The Nabob." 

77 18 Berkeley Square : in a fashionable part of London (see Bae- 
deker's M London" ). 

78 9 He had to bear the whole odium : again Macaulay is the advocate, 
presenting the subject of his biography in the best possible light. See 
also 81 28, " He had to bear the double odium of his bad and of his good 
actions, of every Indian abuse and of every Indian reform." 

78 21 Johnson : if Samuel Johnson, the great literary dictator of the 
eighteenth century, had prejudices against nabobs, how do you account 
for his having been well disposed toward Warren Hastings, as explained 
in the essay on Hastings ? 

78 34 William Huntington, S.S. : a religious impostor who lived wick- 
edly but pretended that he had seen Christ in the body. S.S. stood for 
" Sinner Saved." 

79 15 misery and death : note how these general words are expanded 
into extraordinarily vivid specific details in the sentences that follow. 

80 20 Adam Smith : a political economist, author of " The Wealth 
of Nations," which is declared by Green in Chapter X of " A Short His- 
tory of the English People " to rank among the greatest of books, if 



LORD CLIVE 239 

books are to be measured by the effect which they have produced on 
the fortunes of mankind. 

81 18 between two tempests : explained by the next sentence. Ob- 
serve that Macaulay, from the English point of view, thinks of the 
American Revolutionary War as a civil war. 

81 30 The state of the political world : the author does not neglect his 
opportunity offered by this sentence to give an encyclopedic catalogue 
of names. Look up Gre?iville, Chatham, and Rockingham in any ency- 
clopedia or English history. 

82 24 under the gallery : the seats for distinguished visitors are still 
beneath the galleries. 

83 12 alien from : would you say alien to ? 

83 29 rose : ' adjourned.' 

84 15 harnessed a Newfoundland dog : harnessing a dog to a carriage 
was made a criminal offense in 1839. Macaulay not infrequently 
brightens up an essay by an« allusion to familiar current events. 

84 23 good and bad actions : Macaulay himself develops toward Clive 
something of the " love that passes the love of biographers " (2 32). Has 
Macaulay any interest in Clive except that of the open-minded historian 
and critic ? Does he convince you that Clive's good outweighed his bad 
actions, and that he was unfairly treated by his contemporaries ? 

85 8 Knight of the Bath : on each side of the superb Chapel of 
Henry VII in Westminster Abbey are thirty-six quaintly carved choir 
stalls, each stall being appropriated to a Knight of the Order of the 
Bath, an order established by George I in 1725. 

85 10 Lord Lieutenant of Shropshire : on being invested with the office, 
by which he represented the king in the county or shire, he had to 
kiss the hand of the sovereign to show his allegiance. 

85 17 Burgoyne : from Macaulay's description what new idea do you 
obtain of General Burgoyne ? 

86 3 The Commons resolved : state as simply as you can just what the 
House voted concerning Clive. 

86 15 previous question : by carrying the previous question the 
opponents of Clive prevented the effort of his friends to sidetrack this 
particular resolution without a vote. In the English Parliament, when 
the previous question is carried the vote must be taken. When the 
previous question is lost, the original motion is not given further 
consideration. 

86 33 almost every Frenchman : see in earlier paragraphs of the essay 
what Macaulay says about the achievements of Labourdonnais, Dupleix, 
and Lally. 



240 NOTES 

87 1 the Bastille : on the site of this old Parisian prison, torn down by 
the people in the French Revolution, there is now a high tower, the 
view from the top of which well repays one for the hard, dark climb. 

87 19 Voltaire would have produced : what is the use of this digression ? 

88 33 died by his own hand : in the house at No. 45 Berkeley Square, 
referred to previously in the essay. 

89 15 From his first visit : do you enjoy the beautiful structure of 
Macaulay's concluding paragraph ? 

90 9 Antiochus and Tigranes : the first was subdued by Pompey, B.C. 
65 ; the second by Lucullus, B.C. 69. Do you consider that the fame of 
either Pompey or Lucullus was great ? 

91 4 Trajan : emperor of Rome, 98-117 a.d. His victories were over 
the Dacians and the Parthians. There are many monuments to him in 
Rome. 

91 8 Lord William Bentinck : could you rephrase the last sentence 
so that the final impression should be not of Bentinck, governor-general 
of India from 1828 to 1835, but of Lord Clive, who is the subject of the 
essay and who should be made most prominent at the end ? When the 
editor of the Edinburgh Review criticized this last sentence, Macaulay 
made a slight change, but persisted in giving final emphasis to his high 
estimation of Bentinck's services in India. 



NOTES ON WARREN HASTINGS 



93 1 this book : like the Clive, the Hastings essay is nominally a 
review of a biography. Slashing the biography in a few introductory 
paragraphs, Macaulay passes on to his own estimate of the worth of 
Hastings's career and to a vivid narrative of the striking events in which 
Hastings was the central figure. The biography so summarily disposed 
of by the essayist was the Rev. George R. Gleig's " Memoirs of the Life 
of Warren Hastings, First Governor-General of Bengal," compiled from 
original papers and first published in 1841 in three octavo volumes. As 
soon as Macaulay read the book he wrote to the editor of the Edinburgh 
Review that he considered the new Life of Hastings the worst book he 
ever saw (Trevelyan's " The Life and Letters of Lord Macaulay," II, 92). 

93 22 Christian minister : that is, Gleig. 

94 3 Furor Biographicus : a Latin phrase meaning biographical pas- 
sion or excitement or frenzy ; about equivalent in meaning to the expres- 
sion used in the fourth paragraph of " Clive." 

94 19 as he was : the positiveness with which Macaulay presents his 
ideas seems to carry readers along unsuspectingly to believe implicitly 
what he says. Really the view which is given of Hastings in this essay, 
while in the main accepted as correct by sober and accurate historians, 
is so marred by inaccuracies in statement of fact and by party prejudice in 
interpretation of facts that the best authorities now consider Macaulay's 
portraiture not entirely satisfactory. In subsequent notes attention will 
be called to a few points on which later writers on Hastings's career 
disagree with Macaulay. 

94 28 Lely : Sir Peter Lely (1618-1680), a native of Westphalia, went 
to England in the reign of Charles I and became a fashionable portrait 
painter. He painted the portrait of Cromwell about 1650. In the reign 
of Charles II he painted the beauties of the court. 

95 8 great Danish sea king : Hasting, or Hastings, after ravaging the 
coast of France with his piratical crew, invaded England in 894 and was 
defeated by King Alfred the Great. 

95 14 chamberlain : one of the ancestors of Hastings, that is, William, 
Lord Hastings, was appointed lord chamberlain of the royal household 

241 



242 NOTES 

of Edward IV. Sir Thomas More and David Hume are historians who 
have written about this Lord Hastings, and Shakespeare in" Richard III " 
uses him as one of the persons of the play (III, iv). For an account of 
the Wars of the Roses, in which Lord Hastings took part, and for an 
account of his execution, see the sixth chapter of Green's " Short History 
of the English People." 

95 18 events scarcely paralleled in romance : that is, events in the life 
of Warren Hastings as related further on in the essay. Unconsciously 
here Macaulay gives a characterization of the kind of narrative that he 
is always prone to write when dealing with stirring historical events. 
His essays on historical themes have the flavor of romance and ar.e as 
fascinating as romantic novels. 

95 26 the civil war : a term applied to the internal disturbances in 
England from 1642 to 1660. The Cavaliers supported King Charles I. 
As he was beheaded his supporters necessarily suffered loss of property. 
Speaker Lenthal, of the House of Commons, presided from 1640 to 1653. 

95 33 was sold : see page 214 for a reference to the reacquisition of 
the Daylesford estate by a Hastings. One peculiarity of a Macaulay 
essay is that it explains itself so often. Early in the essay a statement 
will be made. Then that statement will be cleared up perhaps a hun- 
dred pages later. Hence in the annotation there are bound to appear 
many cross references which aim to save the time of the reader in look- 
ing for points that he dimly remembers were alluded to at some earlier 
place in the essay. 

96 1 Before this transfer : the linking effect of such transition phrases 
as this is interesting to notice throughout the essay. Time and again 
this essayist begins a paragraph with a word, a phrase, or a sentence 
directly taking up and carrying along the thought expressed at the end 
of a preceding paragraph. 

96 6 tithes : a tenth part of the produce of the land or an equivalent 
money payment was supposed to be given to the clergy by the lord of 
the manor, that is, the person of high rank who held direct title to 
the land. 

96 12 vicissitudes of fortune : the first six paragraphs are introductory. 
They dispose of the book which called forth the essay, and they tell of 
Hastings's ancestors. Then comes the phrase, " vicissitudes of fortune," 
which is developed in the rest of the essay. 

97 5 most striking peculiarity of his character : not usually successful 
in estimating the hidden forces that make a man's character, Macaulay 
in the case of Hastings was able somehow to comprehend the person- 
ality well enough for him to characterize Hastings about as he has been 



WARREN HASTINGS 243 

characterized by later historians. Note that Macaulay almost never for- 
gets in a later part of his essay what he has said in an early part. He 
sees the end before he begins. Compare the characterization of Hastings 
here with that in the last sentence of the essay. 

97 13 Newington : a London suburb. 

97 16 Westminster School : if you pass through the cloisters of West- 
minster Abbey to the buildings beyond, you may perhaps some day see 
a troop of boys from the school come rushing by on their way to the 
cricket field, mortar boards on their heads and gowns flowing in the 
breeze. 

97 19 Cowper : what is the purpose of the description of Cowper ? 
Is this a digression ? 

98 8 another associate : though the description of the poet Cowper is 
accurate, the numerous references to Impey are not supported by re- 
cent historical research and unbiased study of the documentary evidence. 
For instance, see note 127 18. 

98 16 the foundation : a scholarship established by funds provided at 
the time of starting an endowed school. 

98 19 studentship at Christ Church : scholarship at Christ Church Col- 
lege, Oxford, to be held two years, at about four hundred dollars a year. 

98 30 hexameters and pentameters : in the great English public schools 
like Westminster much time was spent on Latin and Greek composi- 
tion, that is, the writing of verse in Latin and Greek, six feet to a line 
and five feet to a line. 

99 7 Fort William : the official name for Calcutta, as Fort St. George 
was for Madras. 

99 11 war of the succession : the French aided certain pretenders to 
the government of the Carnatic when the powerful Nizam al Mulk died 
in 1748. Clive defeated the pretenders, as related on pages 15-24. 

99 15 ledgers and bills of lading : note the lively, specific way of say- 
ing " purely commercial business " as opposed to diplomacy and war. 

99 20 city of London bears to Westminster : the metropolitan district 
generally known as London embraces a number of boroughs, including 
the region where the Lord Mayor lives. This smaller region is known 
technically as the city of London. In the city are the Bank of London 
and the great commercial houses. Westminster is the part of the met- 
ropolitan district where the Houses of Parliament and St. James's Palace 
and Buckingham Palace are situated. The city is the trading center, 
and Westminster is the center of court life. So it was with Cossimba- 
zar and Moorshedabad : the first was the " place of trade," the second 
the place of the court. 



244 NOTES 

99 32 Surajah Dowlah : this viceroy or nabob of Bengal, at the age of 
eighteen successor to his grandfather, Aliverdy Khan, was of an ungovern- 
able temper (see page 32, lines 16-19). Within two months after his 
accession he was at war with the English. In pursuit of one of his own 
family who had escaped from his vengeance, he led his army toward 
Calcutta. The English who remained in Calcutta were shut up by 
Surajah Dowlah's command in the Black Hole, or military jail of Fort 
William. For an account of Surajah Dowlah's death see page 49. Sura- 
jah Dowlah must not be confused with Sujah Dowlah, nabob of Oude 
(page 1, line 9). 

100 6 Black Hole : turn back to " Clive " and read again the extraor- 
dinary description of the atrocity. 

100 7 In these events : why is this phrase put first in the sentence ? 
How Hastings's greatness originated in these events is explained later 
in the paragraph. 

100 12 prisoner at large : in restraint, but allowed to move about 
freely within definite limits. 

100 15 The treason : two confederates, namely, the minister of finance 
of Surajah Dowlah and a rich banker, conspired to supplant Surajah 
Dowlah and to put Mir Jaffier, the commander in chief of his army, in 
his place. Clive supported the conspirators. By the victory of Plassey, 
1757, Clive was able to carry out the plans of the confederates and put 
Mir Jaffier on the throne in place of Surajah Dowlah. 

100 21 Soon after his arrival at Fulda : another instance of Macaulay's 
method of knitting paragraphs closely together. 

100 34 member of Council : the Company's interests in Calcutta were 
at that time looked after by a president and a council of merchants, 
The members of the council received small salaries, but were allowed 
to make as much as they could from private trading. It was this 
privilege which caused the scandalous administration told of on page 
101 and related even more fully and graphically in the essay on 
Clive (pages 62-68). What have pages 101-102 to do with Warren 
Hastings ? 

101 12 master caste : equivalent to " dominant class," used later in 
the paragraph. Both expressions refer to the English. 

102 5 St. James's Square : an aristocratic place of residence ever since 
it was first laid out in the reign of Charles II (Baedeker's " London"). 

102 19 unparalleled ... in the history of mankind : a characteristic 
exaggeration. 

102 21 lamentable blemishes : what blemishes does the author later 
discuss ? 



WARREN HASTINGS 245 

102 25 Mr. Vansittart : in the interval between the first and the second 
administration of Clive, the governor was Henry Vansittart (1 760-1 764). 

102 30 galleon : Macaulay's vocabulary you have no doubt discovered 
to be rich and picturesque, but rarely eccentric. Such of his words as are 
not familiar to the average reader are in most instances easy to find in 
an unabridged dictionary. Here the interesting words " buccaneer," 
" galleon," and " freebooter " are particularly effective. The only real dif- 
ficulty in this author's use of words is that sometimes he employs a 
word in a technical sense, as, for example, " living " and " resident " 
previously explained. 

102 33 a statesman : in his authoritative book, " A Brief History of 
Indian Peoples," Sir William Hunter tells of the unsuccessful efforts of 
Governor Vansittart and the junior member of council, Warren Hastings, 
to settle the general rising against the English which took place in 1763. 

103 11 little is known : observe other expressions along here, indica- 
ting a cautious method of making assertions : " it has been asserted," 
" is probable," " it is said," " as it should seem," " appears to have left." 
Have you formed the opinion that Macaulay is in general extremely 
careful not to make unwarranted statements ? 

103 31 Hafiz and Ferdusi : medieval Persian poets. 

104 10 acceded to : what different words might have been used here, 
each giving a slightly different shade of meaning but all having about 
the same general significance ? 

104 18 matter for a novel : if you have any knack in writing fiction, 
try your hand at a story of Hastings's voyage on the Indiaman. 

104 20 Imhoff : what is Macaulay's purpose in belittling this man ? As 
a matter or fact, Imhoff was really a German officer of some standing, 
— the third son of Baron Christopher Imhoff, a descendant of a crusader. 

104 23 pagodas : gold coins having a " pagoda " stamped upon them. 
The value was about two dollars. In the period of maladministration of 
Bengal the expression " to shake the pagoda tree " became popular, for 
the English officials took delight in changing from one nabob to another 
and receiving from each new nabob vast donations on his accession. 

104 25 somewhere read : an omnivorous reader, Macaulay held tena- 
ciously in his memory all that he read. Stephen, in " The Story of 
Nuncomar," says that Macaulay undoubtedly read the detail in the 
" Siyyar Mutaqherin," Vol. II, p. 476, translator's note, " Born at Arch- 
angel." The detail about the birthplace of the Baroness Imhoff shows 
the specificness, the concreteness in which Macaulay fairly revels. 

105 2 a voyage : note the lively general narrative of a sea voyage 
followed by the more lively particular narrative of Hastings's voyage. 



246 NOTES 

105 20 met : why is the verb put before the subject? 

106 30 new post : the governor of Bengal lived at Calcutta (Fort 
William). Hastings had been residing at Madras (Fort St. George). 

107 22 Augustulus ... to Odoacer : the relation of the last Roman 
emperors to the German generals is explained in note 71 34. 

107 27 cadet : inferior officer in the military service, usually serving 
without a commission for the purpose of learning the art of war. 

108 6 Mr. Pitt : William Pitt, the younger, as prime minister secured 
the passage in 1784 of an East India bill which established a system 
of dual control of India by the English government and the English 
East India Company. This act, somewhat amended at various times, 
continued in operation till 1858 (Hunter's " India"). 

108 9 no materials ... for a representative constitution : the latest 
dispatches from India indicate that the Indian policy of the British gov- 
ernment is changing and that the natives of India are to be allowed a 
considerably larger share in the government. In fact, an embryo consti- 
tution which admits the natives to an important share in the legislation 
of the country went into effect November 15, 1909. 

109 14 each of them the representative of a race and of a religion : one 
was of the Persian race and the Mussulman or Mohammedan religion ; 
the other was of the Hindoo race and the Brahmin religion. 

109 20 lower standard of Indian morality : what is the purpose in the 
essayist's constant insistence on this point ? 

109 31 What the Italian . . . Bengalese : this type of sentence is a fa- 
vorite of Macaulay's. He uses it again later in the paragraph : " What 
the horns are to the buffalo," etc. In the sentence the national pride 
of the author is evident from his implication that the Englishman is of 
stronger physique than the Italian. Note how lucidly the latter part of 
the sentence, " what the Bengalese is to other Hindoos, that was Nun- 
comar to other Bengalese," is explained in the rest of the paragraph and 
in the next paragraph. 

110 12 Ionian : in the third satire of the Latin poet Juvenal the 
" Ionian " is characterized as subtle and versatile. 

110 13 Jew of the dark ages : for instance, the imaginary Isaac of 
York in Scott's novel " Ivanhoe." 

110 15 the old Greek song : according to which the beauty of women 
stood to them in place of shield and sword and gave them victory over 
arms and fire. With this explanation observe now the significance 
of "weapons, offensive and defensive," in the next sentence. The 
idea is that the Bengalese won his victories by deceit instead of by 
physical force. 



WARREN HASTINGS 247 

110 32 the Bengalese . . . endure torture : the Bengalese still show 
firmness under pain, but during the summer of 1909 they also showed 
w spirit to strike blows " on several occasions. The Indian papers have 
printed much recently concerning the callousness and the boldness of 
the Bengalese terrorists in their attacks on British officials. 

111 2 firmness of Mucius : in the index of almost any Roman history 
reference can be found to the narrative of the exploit of Caius Mucius, 
who, a prisoner condemned to be burned to death, saved his life by thrust- 
ing his right hand into the fire and watching it burn to a crisp. For his 
bravery his life was spared, and he was named Scaevola, " the left- 
handed " (Lippincott's " Pronouncing Biographical Dictionary "). Some 
writers consider that the interesting story about Mucius was invented 
to explain why he was called <" left-handed." 

Ill 3 Algernon Sydney : implicated in the Rye House Plot and be- 
headed in 1683. 

Ill 8 substantiate : mention other verbs about equivalent in meaning. 
Is this the best word for the place ? 

111 22 Therefore, though the Nabob : notice the skill shown in the dis- 
position of the phrases in this sentence. 

112 34 compose : what is the meaning of the word as used here ? 
114 10 Munny Begum : widow of Mir Jaffier. M Begum " means prin- 
cess ; " munny," mother. 

114 15 inoffensive child : for the sake of a balanced structure the es- 
sayist distorts the facts. Goordas was really of age. 

115 4 his malevolence and his cupidity : on page in, line 30, the cupid- 
ity and the malice of Nuncomar were mentioned. Note Macaulay's 
method of announcing a subject, developing it by specific details, and 
then clinching it at the end before passing on to the development of a 
new idea. 

115 15 desperate and deadly struggle : another instance of the method 
of a novelist in hinting about future events. Suggesting that one group 
of characters will be heard of later, a novelist will often leave the group 
for a time to bring up to the same point the narrative of the actions of 
another group. You will observe that Macaulay's method here is some- 
thing like this. What are the merits of the plan ?. 

115 22 predatory families of Teviotdale : the Cranstouns were a power- 
ful family in the raids on the Scottish border. In his "' Lay of the 
Last Minstrel " Scott relates the romantic adventures of Henry of 
Cranstoun. 

117 7 pay no more tribute : the Mogul emperor, Shah Alam, had be- 
come subservient to the strong Mahratta race, enemies of the English 



248 NOTES 

in northwestern India. Payment of tribute to him was therefore equiv- 
alent to payment to enemies of the British, and Hastings decided to 
save money by stopping the payments of tribute to the Mogul. 

117 11 determined to sell them : as the terms which Hastings made 
with the purchaser of the districts of Corah and Allahabad (which were 
some five hundred miles northwest of Calcutta) brought censure later 
upon Hastings, it is well to explain just what the terms of the sale were. 
The purchaser, Macaulay tells clearly enough, was Sujah Dowlah (line 25), 
prince or nabob vizier of the province of Oude. This prince wished to 
obtain the districts of Corah and Allahabad because they were adjacent 
to his own territory. Also adjacent to his boundaries was the province 
of Rohilcund, occupied by the courageous and prosperous Rohillas 
(see 1213). The lands of these people, who had been living in the 
Rohilcund valley for thirty-five years, were coveted by Sujah Dowlah. 
The bargain which Hastings made with Sujah Dowlah was, that in re- 
turn for the districts of Corah and Allahabad the Company was to receive 
over half a million pounds sterling and the Company was to lend Sujah 
Dowlah a force to help to subdue the Rohillas. It is this transaction 
which Macaulay so energetically condemns in pages 1 1 7-1 23. The matter 
is put in a somewhat different light, much more favorable to Hastings, in 
Hunter's " India " : 

"On the partition of the Gangetic valley in 1765, Clive had allotted 
the provinces of Allahabad and Corah to the Emperor Shah Alam. The 
emperor, now in the hands of the Mahrattas, made them over to his 
new masters. Warren Hastings held that by so doing his majesty had 
forfeited his title to these provinces. Hastings accordingly resold them 
to the vizier of Oude. By this measure he freed the Company from a 
military charge of nearly half a million sterling, and obtained a price of 
over half a million for the Company. The terms of sale included the 
loan of British troops to subdue the Rohilla Afghans, who had seized 
and for some time kept hold of a tract on the northwestern frontier of 
Oude. The Rohillas were Mohammedans and foreigners ; they had 
cruelly lorded it over the Hindu peasantry ; and they were now intrigu- 
ing with the Mahrattas, the most dangerous foes of the English. The 
vizier of Oude, supported by the British troops lent to him by Hastings, 
completely defeated the Rohillas. He compelled most of their fighting 
men to seek new homes on the other side of the Ganges River, in a 
neighboring and equally fertile district, but one in which they could no 
longer open the northern frontier of Oude to the Mahrattas." 

11714 twenty years ago: in 1819 the prince of Oude took the title 
of Shah or king. A prince of Oude would not have dared to take the 



WARREN HASTINGS 249 

title in Hastings's time, for then all the Mohammedans acknowledged 
the headship of the Great Mogul ; no matter how powerful a prince 
might really be, and no matter how little he yielded to the authority of 
the nominal emperor, still he did feel it a religious duty to acknowledge 
the Mogul as his chief. 

118 15 the setting sun : that is, the west. The last two sentences of 
this paragraph are a fine example of picturesqueness of style. Instead 
of making bare and unadorned statements, the essayist uses specific 
and vivid terms. Study the two sentences with this in mind, looking 
especially at " rich and flexible Sanskrit," " Hyphasis and Hystaspes," 
" children of the soil," " cross of Saint George." Then write a sober 
paraphrase of the sentences. 

118 16 Ghizni: in 1839 the English took the fortress of Ghizni 
which was away up near Cabul in Afghanistan, and so, as Macaulay 
says, turned the tide of conquest back toward the west, whereas before 
this the course of conquest had always been from the Afghan territory 
toward India. 

118 34 from Lahore to Cape Comorin : why is this a more interesting 
expression than its equivalent, " all India," would have been ? 

119 31 unconquerable. British courage : find other illustrations of 
Macaulay's characteristic patriotism. 

120 10 Reverend Mr. Gleig : one of the few allusions by the essayist 
to the author of the book that he was nominally reviewing. 

120 21 to fight the Americans : does it seem refreshing to you to rec- 
ognize at once one of the countless historical parallels found in the essay? 

121 G caput lupinum : Latin, meaning 'wolf's head.' The whole sen- 
tence means, Was it becoming for the English, who were themselves 
foreign settlers, to maintain that a foreign settler who founds an empire 
in India is a menace that might very properly be cut off ? What kind 
of argument does Macaulay employ along here ? 

121 9 atrocity of the crime : note Macaulay's positive, stinging method 
of expression. 

121 14 offered a large ransom : in the historical research made to get 
all the facts of the Rohilla campaign, no record has been discovered of 
the offer of any payment by the Rohilla leader for the breaking off of 
hostilities. 

121 19 dastardly : as an exercise for increasing your vocabulary, gather 
together the condemnatory adjectives used in pages 1 19-122. As a mat- 
ter of fact, the forces of Sujah Dowlah fought bravely and the vizier 
himself was no coward. 

122 23 to take order : ' to make sure,' 5 to take precautions.' 



250 NOTES 

122 24 arguing a point so clear : what do you find to be the merits 
and defects of Macaulay's argumentative passages ? 

123 2 at the cold steel : of the methods of fighting employed in war- 
fare, which one is referred to here ? 

124 3 the first Governor-General : Hastings's administration is dis- 
cussed in pages 124-183. This would be one of the main divisions in 
a topical outline of the essay. What would be the more important sub- 
divisions under this large heading ? 

124 19 " Letters of Junius " : what was the author's purpose in devot- 
ing any space at all to trying to prove that Francis was Junius ? The letters 
were published in the Public Advertiser, beginning January 21, 1769. 
They were on current political abuses and were addressed to prominent 
public men. Besides Francis, other persons to whom at one time or 
another the authorship of the letters has been attributed are William 
Burke, William Gerard Hamilton, John Wilkes, Sergeant Adair, Rev. J. 
Rosenhagen, John Roberts, Charles Lloyd, Samuel Dyer, General Lee, 
the Duke of Portland, Hugh Boyd', Lord George Sackville, and Earl 
Temple. Though he always denied the authorship, Sir Philip Francis 
is now generally believed to have written the letters signed by the pen 
name, Junius. 

125 27 Corneille's tragedies : by reference to a biographical dictionary 
explain the literary allusions of this sentence. What is their use in the 
essay ? 

126 7 Woodfall : the printer of the Junius letters. 
126 13 " Doest . . . angry " : from Jonah iv. 9. 

126 24 Old Sarum : Macaulay's strictures on the letters of Junius, 
which supported the old, faulty representation, seem natural when one 
remembers the part Macaulay took in the session of Parliament that 
amended the representation. Old Sarum was a little Wiltshire village, 
which, although completely decayed, returned two members to Parlia- 
ment until 1832, when the Reform Bill was passed. 

127 2 over to the ministerial benches : the seating of members in 
the House of Commons is still the same. The members supporting 
the party in power sit in the ministerial benches on the right side of the 
Speaker ; the members of the opposition are seated on the left side. 

127 18 Sir Elijah Impey : Macaulay's sweeping condemnation of the 
part Chief Justice Impey played in Indian affairs is not borne out by 
the findings of reputable later historians who have painstakingly exam- 
ined the facts in the case. Impey faithfully cooperated with Hastings 
in the long quarrel with Francis, but cannot justly be called a tool of 
Plastings, for all of Impey's acts were directed by a high public spirit 



WARREN HASTINGS 25 I 

rather than by a base desire merely to serve a friend by perverting facts 
in a process of law. 

127 28 twenty-one guns : the number of shots to be fired as a salute 
to officials is regulated precisely. At the present time the matter has to 
be attended to with the greatest care when war vessels visit a friendly 
port or when one sovereign visits another. A salute of twenty-one guns 
is given to a sovereign or a member of his family or to the president 
or other head of a government. A salute of seventeen guns is given to 
a governor-general or a governor. 

127 31 that long quarrel : what were the incidents of the quarrel end- 
ing in the breakdown and the death of Clavering ? What were the further 
incidents ending in the return of Francis to England ? What were the 
still further incidents ending in the acquittal of Hastings ? The sentence 
on page 127, lines 31-34, serves as a topic sentence for the rest of the 
essay. Where does the narrative of the events of the quarrel in India 
end ? Where is the ending of the narrative of the events of the quarrel 
in England ? 

129 24 Oateses, and Bedloes, and Dangerfields : Titus Oates and two 
accomplices, Bedloe and Dangerfield, alleged in 1678 that there was a 
plot to kill King Charles II and destroy "Protestantism in England. 
This alleged Popish Plot was soon found to be supported only by 
the perjuries of Oates and Bedloe. Here, instead of using the color- 
less term " perjurers," Macaulay employs the specific, vivid way of 
saying the same thing by naming several notorious English perjurers, 
Oates, Bedloe, and Dangerfield. — Westminster Hall: in this building 
many of the greatest cases in English law have been heard. Here 
Charles I was condemned to death and Warren Hastings acquitted. 
Compare 201 23. 

129 27 Nuncomar : in the narrative of the downfall of Nuncomar, 
Macaulay again writes like a novelist. Does he rouse your feelings 
against Nuncomar as a novelist would against the villain of a story ? 
Compare note 186 32. 

129 29 a grudge of seventeen years : Nuncomar's first trouble with 
Hastings was in 1758. 

132 21 idiots and biographers : another slur at Gleig, the biographer 
of Hastings. 

132 29 assizes : by learning the meanings of the legal terms used 
along here, one might increase one's vocabulary very considerably: 
M assizes," " true bill," " jury," " evidence," " verdict," " statute," M for- 
gery," " swindling," and "assassination," pages 132 and 133 ; " advocate," 
"practitioners, 



252 NOTES 

"tribunal," "barrators," "bailiffs," "sponging houses," "jail," and 
"magistrates," pages 148-151. 

134 7 before the British empire in India : when did the " empire " begin 
to exist ? 

134 22 could not be put to death : Brahmins had, however, before this 
been put to death by the operation of English law, even if contrary to the 
old national law of India. Malleson in " The Life of Warren Hastings," 
p. 237, says that the theory that a Brahmin could not be put to death for 
any crime whatever had been departed from in a thousand instances. 

135 33 a howl of sorrow and despair : the narrative of the death of 
Nuncomar shows Macaulay's characteristic vividness in the use of 
specific and picturesque details. 

136 2 holy waters : the waters were considered holy because the 
Hoogley was one of the mouths of the sacred Ganges River. 

137 5 analogous case : gather together the analogous or parallel cases 
that Macaulay cites in order to make plain his statements regarding 
events in the lives of Hastings and Clive. What countries are referred 
to in these citations of parallel historical events ? 

137 6 Lord Stafford : accused by Titus Oates of complicity in the al- 
leged Popish Plot, Lord Stafford, leader of the Roman Catholic party, 
was imprisoned in the Tower of London. He was impeached and be- 
headed in 1680, though he was in all probability innocent. 

137 20 crimes : enumerate the crimes of Hastings condemned by 
Macaulay. See note 186 32. 

138 23 "Tour to the Hebrides": in this book Dr. Samuel Johnson 
tells of a tour that he made with James Boswell to the Hebrides, islands 
on the west coast of Scotland. — Jones's "Persian Grammar": Sir 
William Jones, an eminent scholar in comparative philology, published 
a Persian grammar in 1771. 

139 21 eastward : the East India House was on Leadenhall Street, 
in the eastern part of London. The peers lived in the west of London. 

140 13 while these things were passing : what phrase equivalent to 
this clause is used at the beginning of three paragraphs of the essay ? 

140 31 arrived : why is the verb placed before the subject? 

143 1 the fearful dangers : how was the American Revolution pro- 
gressing in 1778 ? Where else was England engaged in war or threatened 
with war ? 

143 10 senseless misgovernment : is Macaulay prompted by party bias 
to make so severe a criticism ? How does this characterization com- 
pare with that in Green's " A Short History of the English People " or 
in any other English history that you find available for reference ? 



WARREN HASTINGS 253 

143 17 guided the councils : the statesman who by his strong policy 
guided wisely the affairs of government in the reign of George II was 
William Pitt, the elder. 

143 24 Straits of Calpe : that is, Gibraltar. Calpe was the ancient 
name of the rock of Gibraltar, one of the pillars of Hercules. See 
" Century Dictionary " (proper names) for pronunciation of the word. 

144 29 roi fainiant: sluggish, lazy king. Ludwig V, known as le 
Faineant, was the last of the Carolingian kings of the Franks (Ploetz's 
"Epitome of Ancient, Medieval, and Modern History"). 

145 34 The commanding officer procrastinated : what does the narrator 
gain by writing this short sentence and the three very short sentences 
that follow ? 

146 33 Porto Novo and Pollilore : why does Macaulay mention these 
specific victories instead of merely saying indefinitely, " Coote's great 
victories " ? The victory of Porto Novo is referred to again on page 
157, line 13. 

148 6 There are few Englishmen : note the abrupt introduction of a 
general discussion which aims to explain the defects of English judicial 
procedure. 

149 5 mesne : a law term meaning " intermediate," that is, intermediate 
between accusation and trial. The whole clause means that in cases 
not involving criminal acts but concerned rather with infringements of 
individuals' legal rights the first step was to arrest a defendant and take 
him to Calcutta for trial unless he would employ English attorneys and 
obtain bail. 

149 9 Quaker about an oath : one of the practices of Quakers is to 
refuse to take oaths. 

149 25 blow of Wat Tyler: in June, 1381, Wat Tyler struck dead a 
collector who had been sent out to collect a poll tax that had just been 
imposed on all persons above fifteen years of age. The provocation was 
that the collector acted with indecent rudeness to Wat Tyler's daughter. 

150 15 alguazils : see catchpoles, 151 2. Both words mean ' bailiffs. ' 
What is a bailiff ? 

150 29 justice of the Supreme Court : observe the strong, massed end- 
ing of this and the next two paragraphs. These three paragraphs are 
admirable examples of sentences arranged in forcible groups. 

152 14 Jeffreys : the British chief justice whose judicial murders of 
three hundred and fifty rebels of Monmouth's Rebellion in the reign of 
James II have made the name of Jeffreys a byword for cruelty. He 
drank himself to death in 1689 in the old fortification and prison called 
the Tower of London. 



254 NOTES 

154 7 exposed his country : how had Hastings exposed his country to 
danger ? 

154 19 a Mohammedan soldier : Hyder Ali, called later by Macaulay the 
most formidable enemy with whom the English conquerors of India 
have ever had to contend. In the second act of Goldsmith's comedy, 
"She Stoops to Conquer," which was first played in 1773, there is a 
reference to Hyder Ali. Hardcastle says that he pays no attention to 
politics ; he does not trouble his head about " Hyder Ally." What can you 
learn from the essay on Clive and Hastings regarding other formidable 
enemies over whom the English triumphed between 1750 and 1841 ? 

155 33 near the gay verandas : what was probably the author's pur- 
pose in the brilliant descriptive writing of this paragraph ? 

156 23 most signal triumph : what eulogistic adjectives does Macaulay 
anywhere in the essay apply to Hastings and his acts ? 

157 32 Benares : having finished the Mysore and Hyder Ali story, 
the essayist next takes up the Benares and Cheyte Sing story. Which 
of the two seems to be told the more entertainingly ? Remember that 
the object of a narrative of fact is first to tell the truth, and second to 
tell it entertainingly. 

160 3 sixty years ago : that is, sixty years before the time of publica- 
tion of the essay. 

160 19 from the Himalayas to Mysore : another way of saying from the 
north to the south of India. Compare " from Lahore to Cape Comorin," 
118 34. 

160 20 de facto . . . de jure: these Latin phrases are explained in the 
two w&k/i-clauses. 

161 15 this legerdemain : comment on this expression as a summary 
of the thought of the preceding paragraph. 

161 30 sovereign prince : to make a striking balanced sentence, the 
author distorts the facts here. Really Cheyte Sing had always been 
treated as a subject. 

162 28 The money was paid : note the terse, businesslike phraseology. 
Not a word is wasted. 

166 27 Disappointed in his expectations : a transition phrase passing 
from the Cheyte Sing and Benares story to the story of the Begums 
of Oude. 

168 24 Lucknow : in which direction from Calcutta are the places 
mentioned on page 168, — " Chunar," "Fyzabad," and "Lucknow"? 
What poem do you know about Lucknow ? 

169 3 pretext : in fact Hastings needed no pretext, or pretended rea- 
son, for confiscating the lands and the treasures of the mother and the 



WARREN HASTINGS 255 

grandmother of Asaph-ul-Dowlah. Hastings had proof that their troops 
were aiding Cheyte Sing in the Benares insurrection. 

170 26 ironed: that is, kept captive in irons, as explained in line 32 
of the same page, and line 23 of the next page. 

172 16 peculiar rankness of the infamy : what other examples of sledge- 
hammer condemnation do you find in Macaulay's writings ? 

173 8 the Revolution : by which, after the abdication of James II, in 
1688, William of Orange became king of England. 

174 21 general review: this extends to page 182, line 9. Does any 
part of it seem to you at all eloquent, that is, sounding like a stirring 
speech? — long administration : mention in one-two-three order the prin- 
cipal acts of Hastings during his administration. What else is there 
in the essay besides the history of his administration as governor- 
general ? 

175 17 educed : if you are interested in the study of an author's words, 
consider the source and the effectiveness of Macaulay's vocabulary. In 
some particular page what proportion of his words is of Latin origin ? 
Have you found one instance where you could suggest a better word 
than Macaulay has used to express his idea ? 

175 20 Louis . . . Joseph : the sentence containing these allusions 
means that Hastings produced order out of anarchy in a territory hav- 
ing as large a population as France under King Louis XVI or as Austria 
under Emperor Joseph. 

175 32 Robinson Crusoe : what is the value of this familiar literary 
allusion ? 

176 13 Downing Street and Somerset House : on Downing Street are 
the residence of the prime minister and the principal political offices ; 
in the Somerset House are various other public offices, as the Inland 
Revenue Office and the Audit Office. The meaning of the sentence is 
that Hastings in his administration had no help from official traditions 
or consultations ; he had to think out for himself each phase of his 
policy. 

177 24 The English politician . . . essayist : would it be possible to 
write a more perfect balanced sentence than this ? What is your feel- 
ing when you come across such a sentence as this ? 

178 5 His style : what points that Macaulay names in describing the 
style of Hastings apply equally well to his own style ? 

178 21 more virtuous ruler : Sir William Bentinck. Compare 91 8 and 
note. 

179 2 The Pundits : learned Brahmins. 

180 33 not disposed to vindicate : see note 186 32. 



256 NOTES 

181 26 infallibly : what other adverb might be used here ? 

181 32 outshone the splendor : both the palaces mentioned were fa- 
mous for extravagant display, — Carlton House by the Prince of Wales 
who became George IV, and the Palais Royal by Philip of Orleans, 
regent during the minority of Louis XV. 

18133 brought home a fortune: approximately ;£ 120,000. His salary 
was ,£25,000 a year for thirteen years. 

182 18 roundhouse : ' cabin.' 

182 19 sandalwood : the fragrant carved sandalwood boxes which 
around-the-world travelers sometimes bring home from India have given 
many persons their first ideas of India. 

182 28 Sir Charles Grandison : another literary allusion, this one being 
to Richardson's eighteenth-century novel, " Sir Charles Grandison," in 
which the hero is Sir Charles and the heroine Miss Byron. 

183 6 the low coast of Bengal : note how much the single adjective adds 
to the picture that comes to your mind of the departing governor-general. 

183 8 little is known : of what else does the essayist, on page 102, say 
that little is known ? Macaulay says that in the voyage Hastings amused 
himself with his pen. One of the bits of writing done during the voy- 
age was a " Review of the State of Bengal," published as a pamphlet in 
1786 and describing the miscellaneous transactions of the last three 
months of Hastings's administration. 

183 12 Mr. Shore : governor-general of India from 1793 to 1798. What 
other governor-general of India is highly praised by Macaulay ? 

183 22 Cheltenham : a fashionable English watering place sometimes 
called " Asia Minor," because so many retired Anglo-Indian civil servants 
live there in enjoyment of its waters (see Baedeker's " Great Britain "). 

184 3 the attack: pages 194-199 tell of the charges; pages 199-212, 
of the impeachment. 

184 13 the same man who had triumphed : the rest of the sentence is a 
succinct statement of Hastings's triumphs as governor. 

185 31 the trunk makers and the pastry cooks : the point is that Major 
Scott's pamphlets were not read but were used to line trunks or to set 
cakes upon. 

185 34 these volumes : Gleig's " Memoirs of the Life of Warren 
Hastings." 

186 2 the greatest man then living : compare " the finest gentleman 
of the age," 204 27. What objections have you to Macaulay's manner of 
writing in superlatives? 

186 13 Mr. Fox's East India Bill : the rejection of this bill, which 
was introduced by Fox in 1783 and which proposed to deprive the East 



WARREN HASTINGS 257 

India directors and the governor of their power, led to the fall of the 
Shelburne ministry and made the succeeding ministry look with favor 
upon Hastings. 

186 22 Lord Chancellor Thurlow: Edward Thurlow (1731-1806) was 
appointed lord high chancellor in 1778 and was raised to the peerage. 
He served till 1783 as lord chancellor, when he lost his office, but he 
was appointed again in December, 1783, by Mr. Pitt. Soon becoming an 
enemy of Pitt, he opposed Pitt's policies, especially in the matter of 
Hastings's trial, but he retained his office, through the personal favor 
of the king, till 1792. 

186 24 Mr. Pitt: the younger William Pitt, born in 1759, entered 
Parliament at the age of twenty-two. He was appointed chancellor of 
the exchequer in 1782 and first lord of the treasury and prime minister 
in December, 1783. (First lord of the treasury is the position which the 
prime minister, according to English custom, fills in the ministry. Pitt 
happened also to hold the office of chancellor of the exchequer.) On 
the dissolution of Parliament in March, 1784, Pitt appealed to the peo- 
ple so successfully that a House of Commons favorable to his policies 
was elected. At the age of twenty-five years he thus became firmly 
established as prime minister. The first important act of his adminis- 
tration was the framing, in 1784, of a new constitution for the East India 
Company. 

186 32 The resolution of censure : moved by Henry Dundas. It is -ex- 
plained in some detail on page 173 and referred to also on page 194. 
G. W. Hastings, in " A Vindication of Warren Hastings," published by 
Henry Frowde, London, 1909, holds that Hastings was wholly innocent of 
crimes with which he has been charged. The summarizing chapter, pages 
165-187, contains brief surveys of the evidence disposing of the charges 
that Hastings lacked integrity in certain pecuniary dealings, that he 
acted criminally with regard to the Rohilla war, the trial and execution 
of Nuncomar, the treatment of the Nabob of Bengal and the emperor 
of Delhi, the wars with the Mahrattas and Hyder Ali, the affair with 
Cheyte Sing, and the affair with the Begums. " It is only to be regretted 
that Macaulay did not consult more and study carefully the records of 
which he speaks," says this vindicator of Hastings. This temperate 
refutation of Macaulay's charges is of particular value to teachers and 
advanced students who desire to find in small compass the answers to 
Macaulay's flings. Based on the State Papers, published by the Indian 
Government, the volume is a strong book, going farther than Strachey's 
and Stephen's books in vindicating Hastings. See also the sketch of 
Hastings in the Introduction. 



258 NOTES 

187 29 wits of Brooks's : a club in St. James's Street, London, where 
the brilliant Whig politicians and literary men used to gather to enjoy 
lively conversation. Among the members of Brooks's were Burke, 
Sheridan, and Fox. The clubs and coffeehouses were an important 
element in the political and literary and even commercial life of the 
eighteenth century, supplying to some degree the place now filled by 
the great newspapers. Some one has called the century the century 
of coffee. 

188 15 But there were two men : the sentence beginning thus is de- 
veloped in pages 188-192. The author, as is his habit, pauses in his 
narrative long enough to introduce explanatory matter that aims to make 
the narrative clearer when resumed. In this case Macaulay pauses to 
explain the character of Francis and Burke and their reasons for 
opposing Hastings. 

189 26 Las Casas : a Spanish missionary of the sixteenth century who 
worked to ameliorate the condition of the natives in South America and 
Mexico, oppressed by the Spanish conquerors. — Clarkson : Thomas 
Clarkson (1760-1846) was an English philanthropist who devoted him- 
self to the abolition of the slave trade in the West Indies. 

190 9 bales of Indian information : compare "bales of censure," 176 23. 
Mention other words that might have been used instead of " bales." Is 
" bales " the best word for each of these passages ? 

190 19 The burning sun : observe the range of appeal to the senses 
in the two extraordinarily vivid descriptive sentences of this paragraph. 
Is the sense of taste neglected ? 

190 23 imaum : ' Mohammedan priest.' What effect is gained by the 
use of such words as this and the following : " mosque," " idols," 
"devotee," "turbans," "maces," " palanquin," " bazaar," "jungle," and 
" hyenas " ? 

190 27 yellow streaks of sect : daubs of yellow put upon their fore- 
heads by believers in a particular creed. 

190 29 palanquin of the prince : alliteration. See also " litter of the 
noble lady." What other figures of speech have you noticed ? 

190 33 Beaconsfield and St. James's Street: that is, the objects to be 
seen in remote India became to Burke, by study of books and docu- 
ments, as familiar as the things he would see in going from his country 
home, Beaconsfield in Buckinghamshire, to his club, Brooks's, in St. 
James's Street, London. 

192 10 a great and good man : in his Encyclopedia Britannica article 
on Samuel Johnson (1856), Macaulay used the same characterization for 
Johnson. See also 197 23. 






WARREN HASTINGS 259 

194 31 calling Hastings to the House of Lords : that is, making him a 
peer. What Thurlow meant was that if the chancellor of the ex- 
chequer, i.e. Pitt, feared to propose making Hastings a peer, the lord 
high chancellor of England (who is keeper of the " great seal"), i.e. 
Thurlow, might take steps towards thus honoring Hastings. At the 
present time it is the prime minister alone in whose hands lies the power 
of proposing to the sovereign what persons shall be named as peers. 

196 9 during sixty years : previous to the impeachment of Hastings, 
Robert Harley, Earl of Oxford, was the last person impeached (171 5). 
He was acquitted in 17 17. 

196 19 With great diffidence : does this sound like Macaulay ? 

198 29 prorogation : study a large dictionary to learn the difference 
between prorogation and dissolution of Parliament. The exercise of the 
right which belongs to the British crown, through the ministers, of ter- 
minating a session of Parliament is called prorogation. Parliament was 
prorogued in 1784. Compare 210 16 for a reference to the dissolution of 
Parliament. When Parliament is prorogued the same members meet 
again after the recess ; when Parliament is dissolved an election is held 
and the newly chosen members make the new Parliament. 

199 4 Lords below the bar : outside the barrier of the House of 
Commons. 

199 20 great oration of Sheridan : unquestionably the claim of Richard 
Brinsley Sheridan to lasting fame rests not on his orations, considered 
great by his contemporaries, but on his plays, which are still widely read 
and often acted ; for example, " The School for Scandal," the first classic 
play acted at the New Theater in New York (1909), and the even more 
widely known " The Rivals." In Sichel's biography of Sheridan, re- 
ferred to in the Introduction, there is an interesting summary of 
Sheridan's oration against Hastings. 

199 23 coughed and scraped down : prevented from speaking by the 
coughs and the scraping of feet of opponents. 

199 31 an impeachment : the trial of an official for misconduct in 
office. The process of impeachment in England is that the House of 
Commons prefers charges and the' House of Lords hears and decides 
the case. What Macaulay thinks of the procedure in general is told on 
page 208, line 28 to page 209, line 1 5. 

2015 a spectacle: does this mean the same as "pageant," 210 31? 
Macaulay is at his best in descriptions of scenes such as that in West- 
minster Hall when the House of Lords began to try the case against 
Hastings. The wonderfully vivid descriptions in Macaulay's historical 
essays relieve them from bareness. 



260 NOTES 

201 22 hall of William Rufus : that is, Westminster Hall, begun in 
1097 by William Rufus, son of the Conqueror. However, the hall which 
he started to build, and which was completed by Henry III and Edward I, 
was almost totally destroyed by fire in 1 291, so that the Westminster 
Hall where Hastings was tried contained little of the original material. 
In remodeling and enlarging the hall, Richard II supplied it with a 
noble roof having beams of Irish oak. Compare 129 24 and 206 7. 

201 33 Garter King-at-arms : * chief of the heralds.' 

202 27 the greatest painter and the greatest scholar : Joshua Reynolds 
and Samuel Parr, as explained in Macaulay's next two sentences. 

203 3 in secret : the Prince of Wales, afterwards George IV, privately 
married Maria Fitzherbert in 1785. 

203 4 the Saint Cecilia : Reynolds painted Mrs. Richard Brinsley 
Sheridan in the character of Saint Cecilia, the patron saint of music 
and musicians. 

203 8 Mrs. Montague : widow of Edward Montague. See note on 
"bluestockings," 217 29. 

203 11 Duchess of Devonshire : another of the beautiful ladies of fash- 
ion painted by Reynolds. With a group of her friends among the ladies 
who were for the time interested in politics, she helped Fox in 1784 in 
his contest for a seat in Parliament. It is said that the fair duchess 
obtained votes by allowing the voters the privilege of kissing her 
(Lippincott's "Pronouncing Biographical Dictionary"). 

203 26 Mens aequo in arduis : ' a mind unmoved amidst difficulties.' 
This Latin inscription was underneath Hastings's picture in the Gov- 
ernment House at Calcutta. 

204 8 full dress : apparel appropriate for a public ceremony, a dinner, 
or an evening entertainment or party. For men it used to consist of 
a black velvet coat, knee breeches, sword, and a wig, the back hair of 
which was inclosed in a silk bag. 

204 29 Windham: William Windham, born in 1750, was elected to 
Parliament in 1783. He began his public life as a friend and follower 
of Burke. Serving in the cabinet of several prime ministers, he came 
in time to be regarded as the model of an English gentleman. 

205 9 morning sun : meetings of Parliament begin at four o'clock in the 
afternoon and sometimes last till the early morning hours. Compare 
193 31. 

205 11 Charles Earl Grey: Charles Grey, born in 1764, became Earl 
Grey in 1807, when his father, the first Earl Grey, died. Charles Grey 
entered Parliament at the age of twenty-two and soon took high rank 
among the Whig members of the House. Macaulay's praise is no doubt 



WARREN HASTINGS 261 

prompted by the fact that Grey was prime minister in 1832 when the 
Reform Bill, which Macaulay worked for, was passed. The next year, 
too, this administration passed bills abolishing colonial slavery and the 
monopoly of the East India Company. 

206 3 Handkerchiefs ... fit : note the climactic effect of the clauses 
of this sentence. 

20611 whose trust he has betrayed: on page 124, line 1, it was ex- 
plained that Hastings was appointed governor-general by being named 
as such in the Regulating Act passed by the House of Commons. 
He was thus in a sense a servant of the " Commons' House of Par- 
liament." 

207 27 words unintelligible to English ears : lacs, 100,000 rupees, for- 
merly equivalent to $50,000 ; crores, $5,000,000 ; zemindars, landholders ; 
aumils, managers of districts ; sunnuds, certificates granting a title to 
something or other ; perwannahs, orders of a magistrate ; jaghires, es- 
tates in land ; nuzzurs, presents to superiors, now termed " graft " (Stand- 
ard Dictionary). Besides these strange words, what others have you 
noted in the essay ? 

208 10 debates on the Regency : a Regency Bill, proposed in conse- 
quence of the mental illness of George III, was debated in the House of 
Commons in December, 1788. The bill was abandoned on the king's 
recovery, February 26, 1789. On the return of the malady, the Prince of 
Wales was sworn in before the privy council as regent of the kingdom, 
February 5, 181 1 (see Haydn's "Dictionary of Dates"). 

208 13 thanks in St. Paul's for his recovery : George III, who reigned 
from 1760 to 1820, was more or less insane for the last thirty years of 
his life, so that, though he returned thanks in 1789 in St. Paul's Cathe- 
dral, he had not permanently recovered from his madness. — the States- 
General : summoned by Louis XVI, May, 1789, and ushering in a new 
era of constitutional freedom in France. 

209 7 law Lords : judges who have been made peers and who have 
thus become members of the House of Lords. 

209 14 would be unreasonable indeed : observe the ironical tone of the 
essayist throughout this paragraph. 

211 6 woolsack : the seat of the lord chancellor. It is a cushioned 
ottoman standing in front of the throne and almost in the center of the 
House of Peers. 

211 11 The great seal : kept by the lord chancellor. Compare 194 
29-34 and 186 22. — Lord Loughborough : Alexander Wedderburn (1733- 
1805) was a distinguished lawyer and politician of England. In 1780 he 
was appointed chief justice of the Court of Common Pleas, with the title 



262 NOTES 

of Lord Loughborough. In the beginning of Pitt's administration he was 
leader of the opposition in the House of Lords. When the king became 
deranged in 1789, Lord Loughborough advised the Prince of Wales to 
proclaim himself regent. Four years later, having seceded from the Whig 
party, Loughborough was appointed lord chancellor. 

211 19 managers' box : mention the managers of the impeachment 
as named by Macaulay, and tell what he says about each. 

212 31 cuddy : in the eighteenth century the word meant ' the small 
cabin of a boat.' " A New English Dictionary," however, cites this pas- 
sage as an example of the use of " cuddyfull " as a noun. 

213 11 doctors : eminently learned men, especially in theology and law. 
213 19 apotheosis : the act of ranking among the gods ; transformation 

into a god. 

213 27 a Pantheon : a group of all the deities, or a building erected 
for the worship not of one particular god but of all the gods. 

214 14 Pasquin : a sixteenth-century Roman tailor who enjoyed local 
celebrity for his jests, and whose name gave rise to the word " pasquin- 
ade," meaning lampoon or satire of specific persons. The man whom 
Macaulay brusquely calls " that malignant and filthy baboon " simply 
adopted the name Anthony Pasquin as a pen name. 

214 23 alienated : compare " in the following generation it was sold 
to a merchant of London," 95 33. 

215 4 Mr. Dundas : for his part in the troubles of Hastings see page 
194, lines 2-19. 

215 24 a red riband : light on this allusion will be found on page 194, 
line 27, " decorated with the star of the Bath." The members of this 
order of knighthood wore a red sash as well as a star. 

2161 Mr. Addington: Henry Addington (1756-1844) succeeded Pitt 
as chancellor of the exchequer and first lord of the treasury, that is, as 
prime minister, in March, 1801 ; but remained at the head of the minis- 
try only until May, 1804, when Pitt again became prime minister. Pitt 
had resigned ostensibly because the king objected to the measures which 
the administration proposed for the relief of the Roman Catholics. 

216 27 Covent Garden : London fruit and flower market. 

217 1 his conservatories and his menagerie : note that these have been 
described in the preceding paragraph. As is so often the case, Macaulay 's 
transition sentence makes the paragraph connection obvious. 

217 6 Trissotin : an allusion to a character in one of Moliere's come- 
dies. Trissotin combined the man of fashion with the man of letters, as 
Hastings's biographer, Mr. Gleig, assures us Hastings did. Macaulay 
politely ridicules this phase of Hastings's character, ending by a 



WARREN HASTINGS 263 

Comparison of Hastings the author with the insignificant poets William 
Hayley and Thomas Seward (line 31). 

217 29 bluestockings: compare 203 8. Bluestockings were ladies who 
showed a taste for learning. This sense of the word, according to 
" A New English Dictionary," originated in connection with the re- 
unions held about 1750 at the houses of Mrs. Montague, Mrs. Vesey, 
and Mrs. Ord, who exerted themselves to substitute for the card playing, 
which then formed the chief recreation at evening parties, more in- 
tellectual modes of spending the time, including conversation on liter- 
ary subjects, in which eminent men of letters, such as Burke, Johnson, 
and Goldsmith, often took part. Many of those who attended would not 
wear " full dress." One of these habitually wore gray or blue worsted 
instead of black silk stockings. Hence somebody derisively referred to 
the coterie as the "Blue Stocking Society." Then the ladies came to 
be called Blue Stockingers, Blue Stocking Ladies, and finally " Blue 
Stockings." 

218 15 rose and uncovered : note the similar expression at the begin- 
ning of the essay, 94 12, " uncovered and stood up to receive him." 

218 29 the Sheldonian Theater : honorary degrees are still conferred 
on distinguished men in this Oxford building. Baedeker's " Great 
Britain " explains that the undergraduates occupy the upper gallery 
and express their opinions frankly as to the different recipients of 
degrees. 

219 20 only one cemetery : what feature of Macaulay's style appears 
in the first few sentences of the next to the last paragraph of the essay ? 

220 25 his noble equanimity : in what crises of his life did Hastings 
show remarkable poise ? In what respects does the conclusion of the 
essay seem to you like an oration ? What opinion have you formed 
regarding Macaulay's powers in writing summaries ? 



SUBJECTS FOR ORAL AND WRITTEN 
COMPOSITIONS 

GENERAL 

1. In looking through the Notes what do you observe regarding 
the nature of Macaulay's allusions ? Do you find any comparisons 
drawn from the outdoor world or from scientific discovery ? 

2. Should Englishmen take pride in the careers of both Clive 
and Hastings? 

3. Compare Clive and Hastings with regard to their personal 
appearance and talents. 

4. Which parts of the two essays do you most enjoy reading 
aloud ? Give your reasons. 

5. What are your reasons for disliking to read aloud some parts 
of the essays ? 

6. Tell what you know about the following topics and persons : 
The Black Hole, East India Company, Lord Clive, Warren Hast- 
ings, Nuncomar, Impey, Hyder Ali, Sujah Dowlah, Francis, the 
Pitts, Moguls, the Junius Letters, the British in India. 

7. Which essay holds your interest more absorbingly, Clive or 
Hastings? Why? 

8. Compare Macaulay's vocabulary, -sentences, and paragraphs 
with your own in the longest piece of writing that you have ever 
done. 

9. Digressions in the essays. 

10. Contemporary essayists, novelists, and poets in England and 
America at the height of their powers about 1850. 

1 1. What was happening in. America during the time of Clive and 
Hastings ? 

12. With page and line references for each heading and subhead- 
ing, write a topical outline for each essay. In selecting the main 
headings consider the suggestions in this regard made here and 
there in the Notes. 

13. Do you admire Macaulay's manner of writing? What seem 
to you its merits and defects ? 

265 



266 SUBJECTS FOR COMPOSITIONS 

14. Gather together all the rhetorical references of the Notes, ar- 
range them according to some systematic scheme, and then prepare 
to talk for five minutes on the vocabulary, sentence formation, para- 
graph construction, structural form, figures of speech, clearness, 
coherence, force, elegance, rhythm, or other qualities of Macaulay"s 
style. Give examples freely. 

15. Describe a native of India whom you have seen. 

1 6. From your childhood reading or elementary-school study what 
do you remember about India, — its climate, products, people, reli- 
gions, cities, mountains, rivers, or government ? 

1 7. What further information on any of these subjects have you 
gained from Macaulay? 

18. What have you learned recently from returned missionaries 
or travelers or from newspaper dispatches regarding the present 
condition of India? 

19. Which do you find better reading, Macaulay's Indian essays 
or Kipling's Indian stories? Give your reasons. 

20. What novels have you read dealing with life in India, and how 
did you like them ? 

21. In contents and method of expression compare the essays by 
Macaulay with any other sixteenth-, seventeenth-, eighteenth-, or 
nineteenth-century essays that you have read. 

22. Reference books available for the life of Macaulay, Clive, and 
Hastings, for the history of the British in India, and for biographical 
and geographical allusions in the essays. [Consult librarian and card 
catalogue in the nearest public library.] 

CLIVE 

1. Clive's three periods of residence in India. 

2. Indian history with which Clive was directly and indirectly 
concerned. 

3. Describe the appearance of Clive. 

4. It has been said that at the age of thirty-two Clive established 
British power in India. If this is true, how did he do it? If untrue, 
what would be an accurate statement of Clive's work? 

5. Give a detailed account of the military career of Clive. How much 
space, proportionally, does Macaulay give to this part of Clive's life ? 

6. Was Clive both a great and a good man ? 



SUBJECTS FOR COMPOSITIONS 267 

7. In two paragraphs give an account of Clive's life, one paragraph 
being devoted to what he did in England and the other to what he 
did in India. 

8. Clive as a statesman. 

9. Life in India as you have always imagined it. 

10. With a setting in Calcutta at the summer solstice of 1756, 
write an imaginary narrative of the acts of some native of India. 

r 1 . Put into one or more four-line ballad stanzas what you imag- 
ine may have been exciting events of the battle of Plassey. 

1 2. Using your imagination, write a translation of an " urgent let- 
ter " such as might have been sent from Chinsurah, " exhorting the 
government of Batavia to fit out an expedition which might balance 
the power of the English in Bengal " (see page 56). 

13. Prove if you can that Clive was unfairly treated by the English 
people. 

14. Did Clive send to England any messages by cable? 

15. The route from London to Calcutta in the eighteenth century. 

16. Has the reading of this essay given you a taste for other 
essays by Macaulay, or a distaste for all his writings? 

HASTINGS 

r. What points in this essay are explained by reference to the 
essay on Clive? 

2. How is the most striking characteristic of Hastings shown in 
the various periods of his life ? 

3. Contrast the lives of Hastings and Cowper, and Hastings and 
Macaulay. 

4. This essay compared in interest with any novel that you con- 
sider particularly entertaining. 

5. Hastings's relations with Nuncomar and Cheyte Sing. 

6. Write a topical outline for a story of Hastings's administration 
as governor-general. 

7. W T as Hastings either a great or a good man ? 

8. Compare Nuncomar and Omichund. 

9. What have you learned regarding the political administrations, 
in England from about 1770 to 1804? 

10. The national character of the Bengalese as described by 
Macaulay. 



268 SUBJECTS FOR COMPOSITIONS 



in 



1 1 . The things you like best and will probably remember longest 
this essay. 

12. Hastings in England. 

13. What do the words " civil service " mean to you? 

14. Life in India as described in the Hastings essay. 

15. Where does Macaulay's introduction to his essay end? W r here 
does his conclusion begin ? 

16. Write an imaginary dialogue between Hastings and Nuncomar, 
Hastings and Francis, or Francis and Burke. [Consider at what 
place and time you will have the men meet for their talk.] 

17. Give arguments to show that Hastings's acquittal was just. 

18. What misinformation does the author give in the essay on 
Hastings ? 

iga. Which of the editor's notes are historical, which are rhetori- 
cal, and which are linguistic ? 

igd. Which of the notes cannot be classed under any of these 
headings ? 

20. W T hy is this essay literature ? 



NOV 23 19IO 



One copy del. to Cat. Div. 



